


Their Cabur

by NovaVoyager



Series: Their Cabur [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Light Angst, Other, Slow Burn, idk we setting up shit first
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:15:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 26,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29142090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaVoyager/pseuds/NovaVoyager
Summary: You liked it when jobs were simple; get the puck, hunt them down, and claim you reward. Do this enough times, it becomes your whole life. It was your life for the past 3 years. But when one job goes too far, things become complicated. Pucks are placed on you, fellow guild members hunt you down, and little to no reward for the jobs you can find. It’s been a rough month for you that’s for sure. Things are about to get more complicated for a certain Bounty Hunter too when he runs into you.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Reader, Original Male Character/Reader
Series: Their Cabur [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138895
Kudos: 7





	1. The Mandalorian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You liked it when jobs were simple; get the puck, hunt them down, and claim you reward. Do this enough times, it becomes your whole life. It was your life for the past 3 years. But when one job goes too far, things become complicated. Pucks are placed on you, fellow guild members hunt you down, and little to no reward for the jobs you can find. It’s been a rough month for you that’s for sure. Things are about to get more complicated for a certain Bounty Hunter too when he runs into you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted this on my Tumblr but I wanna throw it out here too! This is entirely self-indulgent so suffer with me while i have too much fun with writing this idea out. :) <3

## Part 1: The Promise

_Only an idiot would hang out on Maldo Kries_ , you tell yourself, sitting in a freezing bar on the same planet, nursing your warm drink. The three burly Trawlers push past any bystander in their way to now bother the Mythrol, a blue fellow whose been shaking in his chair this whole time, flinching and side eyeing anyone who got too close to him. This shrimpy behavior caught these lowlive’s eyes so they moved in to play with the fish out of water. It would’ve been hilarious for you back in the day watching him quiver and jump and their not so friendly greetings, but his fearful responses now sounds like a child to you. The obnoxious mood they were giving out switches to malicious as the Quarren gladly holds the blue guy down, head on the table.

“Looks at his glands!” The ringleader says in Huttese,“I bet we could sell them at the port!” His voice is too cheerful for your taste, His friends laugh along. You have to place your drink down at the thought of them cutting the alien up here, you shift your eyes around the room to find something better to watch but you're drawn in to this scene.

The poor Mythrol is offering up his credits putting them on the table now, in his position he could only look at the few patrons in front of him, silently pleading for help, his eyes meet yours but you force yourself to look away. He isn’t who you’re here for. 

Your target is the Quarren currently messing with the coward. You’ve been tailing his group for 3 days now looking for an opening to grab the fish’s head without his big friends seeing you. You've been told that your patience has been your strongest asset when it comes to hunts. You can recall a 4 month long hunt you did starting out as a bounty hunter, although that was mostly because of your lack of tracking skills and hesitation at the new job. But all that they needed to know was that it was your biggest score and with a dash of embellishment on the story of how you captured the quarry, it got you into the guild. But that was then, now time is money, and your patience has been running thin.

The thought of just blasting them all down while they’re distracted, getting the Quarren’s head and the damsel's offered credits seemed like the logical thing to do. But the likelihood of you pulling it off quickly without any serious injury was small, you have no supplies with you besides your blaster and you really don’t want to die in a bar on an icy wasteland. 

Oh no, you had bigger and better things to do than to lose a fight to these lowlifes, well you did a month ago. Getting back to _him_ before it's too late was all you can think of now. 

Your Huttese is a little rusty but figuring out what’s gonna happen next is easy to tell, the group stands their prey up from the table as the leader pulls out his blade aiming at their neck. You’re telling yourself to mind your business and just follow them to the port like they said but your hand betrays you reaching for the blaster in its holster, your heart races as you get ready to jump in. _Might as well for the credits_ , you justify to yourself.

The door next to you opens before things escalate to a fight, turning your head like the others towards the newcomer, a Mandalorian is here. The scratched up red amour on him reminds you of the Mando in your guild, at least you hope it is the same one. He stays still at the entrance as the trawler yells at him in his language but the Mandalorian moves on in. You work to calm yourself down while everyone is on the new attraction. The silver helmet’s obscure reflection of its surroundings allows you to situate yourself back to somewhat normality. A Mandalorian showing up, never means a nice outing for anyone nearby. This you know all too well.

More Huttese is thrown at the Mandalorian who ignores it, having his back face the trawler. This angers the leader making him march on over to him forgetting about the Mythrol. Your target is still holding onto the guy sadly. So like everyone else, you sit still and watch the Mandalorian and the Alpha Male, waiting to see who shoots first.

“He says you spilled his drink” The bartender tells the newcomer, your target and his other partner toss their quivering toy back onto his table and join their friend at the bar. _They are either really brave or really dumb to mess around with a Mando._ You ponder to yourself, already knowing the state of their IQs combined. Your window of opportunity seems to be opening as the two grunts test their fate with the Mando, your hope now is for him to do your job for you. The bartender is trying his best to ease the tension by getting a new drink for the Alpha Trawler.

“Is that real Beskar steel?” The Alpha asks, beskar being the one word you recognize and realize what this idiot is thinking of trying. You adjust yourself in your seat, the hunk of metal resting on your right shoulder suddenly feeling too heavy. Worried it might now be in view, you reach up to adjust the shawl covering the metal. If this Mandalorian makes it out of here alive, you might be able to finally do something about this burden. 

The two goons now start to corner their unbothered prey, you are unable to see what they’re up to. You slowly pull out your blaster just in case. The others try to play off that they're not listening in but the only sound in the place is metal being scraped with a knife.

“Here.” The bartender again breaks the silence across the bar with a drink gaining the group's attention. He slides the drink across the bar to reach the Trawlers but the Mandalorian grabs it before the three realize what is happening; he pushes them back slamming the drink into one of them knocking them out instantly. He grabs your target by the back of his neck, throwing his head onto the countertop. The Quarren falls as his leader attempts an attack on the assailant but is quickly blocked as his arm is grabbed, Mando punches him directly into his socket, a pop being heard from his body with the man groaning in pain as his arm is twisted to stab himself in the back. Deciding to not go in to help the man clearly winning this fight, you sit back in awe as he does what he's been trained to do. 

The Quarren realizing his mistakes tries to escape his fate, you yelp a panicked _Hey!_ as your paycheck runs through the door. Getting up from your seat is a bit of a struggle for your icey legs, but he doesn’t get far as your target’s leg is snagged by a grabble line from the Mandalorian making the alien fall to the ground. The Quarren tries to shoot his way out of this fight but hits only the beskar on the man’s shoulder, and he retaliates by shooting the door’s control panel sealing the fish’s fate as the door closes with him stuck in the middle, slicing him in half. The room is now silent, and you are just standing there looking at the Mandalorian in shock, who is looking in your general direction but who can tell really what he's looking at. Letting out a breath, you rush to the Quarren, the first half of the job done, now you just need a ride out of here.

The Madalorian was looking at you, hearing your exclaim during the fight and now seeing you up with a blaster in hand. He knows your face but he wasn’t sure when exactly you met each other, if you’re part of the now broken up crew, or after the same target as him. However, watching you holster your blaster, move to the smoking panel to get the door to open and pull out a vibroblade for the Quarren outside, tells him you’re no threat. He turns to pay attention to the Mythrol who is trying to laugh off the events that occurred, thanking the Mandalorian as the sound of patrons chatting inside, rushed _shhlrunk_ _shrliiink,_ and buzzing sounds come from outside. 

“You know what? Here. You take my credits.” The Mythrol slides his credits across the table, telling him to buy a drink. The Mandalorian instead places a puck with the Mythrol’s face on it in front of the blue man.

“Oh, is that a bounty puck?” The bounty says in disappointment, the sounds of cutting stops now and you reentered the bar with the Quarren’s head in hand. Well, most of it. You walk over the dead and knocked out man, their decapitated friend leaving wet droppings on them as you move to give some credits to the bartender who sluggishly accepts them as his attention is on the Mandalorian.

“ I did my best on the door to get it to work but you might need to bring an extra coat for a while.” You joke, giving the bartender a smile and a nod as he turns to you, returning the same gesture. “Sorry about the mess” You chuckle, wiggling the slimy head and looking down at the bodies on the ground, the bartender gives you no response to that and just walks away.

“Look uh, there must be some mistake. I can get you more credits.” You hear the Mythrol bargain, making you look over at the two. 

“I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold.” The Mandalorian finally speaks the Mythrol’s pleading look drops as he’s got no chance in talking his way out of this.

“Poor guy just can’t catch a break” You say to no one. Hearing that as a bystander is chilling enough, you understand why none of the people here made any moves on the bounty hunter. You wish you could join them but you need a ride and hopefully he will help you out for old times sake. Luckily for you the Mythrol surrenders to the Mandalorian who trades the bounty’s credit for binders that the alien begrudgingly puts on, now is your turn to bargain. 

“ I gotta say, that was some show there Mando.” You start off, imitating the nonchalant attitude of your old mentor, it feels wrong when you let words escape your mouth like this but it has gotten you through some tough dealings in the past, might as well take your chances here. He turns to you with a hand on his holster making you think this was a bad idea to bug him while on the job but you're desperate.

“ Woah easy man, I got what I came here for,” You say calmly shaking the Quarren’s head causing the thing to leak onto the floor, “I just need a favor from a fellow guild member, that’s all.” You surprise yourself with the way your voice hasn’t exposed the extreme panic you have going on internally, chatting with faceless mercs like him is like trying to pet a baby Wampa. As expected, Mando just grabs the Mythrol heads out the open door.

“I don’t do favors.” He breaths out, wanting that to be the end of it, he walks out with the bounty following behind. You are not giving up, so you follow them close behind.

“Not even for someone who saved your life?! Remember Horuz?” You exclaim, hoping your memory served you well that he was the same Mandalorian as the one back on Horuz. 

He stopped in his tracks at the mention of Horuz. He remembers you better now **;** his pride can let him admit that you saved his life that night on Horuz. You even offered to help him track the bounty he lost and patch up the heavy injuries he got from the bounty’s bodyguards, but he left you to get back to his ship without a word.

“I remember losing a bounty because of you.” He said bluntly, turning to look at you. You stop in your tracks as he stares you down, the key part of that time coming to you, the carefree attitude forgotten.

“ Oh my bad! Next time I'll just let you get killed and take the bounty for myself.” You bark back in defense, although if you were really honest to him, you did take the bounty for yourself. The Mandalorian was a fine distraction, but the weight on your right shoulder forced you to circle back to help him after you put down your target. Telling him that now wouldn’t help you as he and his bounty kept walking. The window is closing very quickly for you, now you're _really_ desperate.

“Come ooon! I just need a ride! ” You whine watching him walk away from you again. Looking around the empty wasteland for someone to back you up you find nobody but the Mandalorian and the opportunity to get back home slipping out of your grasp.

“ i- I can pay you in beskar!” You blurt out, desperation and fear of being stranded yet again makes your lungs work double time. This offer finally gains his attention, he turns to you again slowly, you haven’t noticed the gust of wind pushing the shawl off of you, exposing the pauldron you had on your right shoulder. He however does and marches over to you, grabbing your arm to inspect the armor. You drop the head in shock of the Mando’s quick movement. There is orange paint chipped away in most areas but the metal underneath looks well cared for as far as he can see. It was definitely crafted by an armorer, he notices the signet of a Rancor skull resting on the armor. Thoughts of you killing for the armor makes him tighten his grip on you. He can just kill you and take it from your corpse, he debates the idea but you interrupt his thoughts.

“ i-I have more but it's back on Nevarro, i-if you can get me there I promise to deliver all of it to you.” You rush out in a voice higher than usual, his grip is killing you but you hold back your whimpers, staring each other down your chests rising and falling in unison. You know it’s a bad look for you to be wearing it, like a trophy, a pit in your stomach was always there whenever someone heard of you beating a Mandalorian. Now face to face with one wearing what you know is sacred to them, well, you’d be outraged for him if he didn’t put you down for this reveal.

“Fine.” Is all he says. You sharply exhale as the grip he had on your arm is dropped, he turns back to the trail and towards the Ferryman. Not wanting to piss him off more than you already have, you bend over to get the head and fall in line behind the bounty. From shame and the bitter cold you keep your eyes on the ground, wanting to rub away the throbbing in your arm but can’t. This already blows for you, but the wind doing the exact same thing makes this walk torture. You wrap your shawl closer to you the best you can with one hand but the wind is not letting you escape its punishment. Some hope begins to appear in the shape of a person waiting ahead of the trail. The shivering Mythrol falls in step with you looking to Mando and back to you.

“ Y-you know I have credits, e-enough for a-” His chilly proposition is cut short by you shoving him forward knowing what he’s getting at.

“I’m in enough trouble as it is pal, I’m not helping you.” You try to hiss quietly but the Mandalorian looks over at the two of you, both of you flash a smile at the man who sighs and turns away to the Ferryman who gets up from his seat greeting his customer.

“ I need passage to the yards.” He says and with a little whistle from the Ferryman’s flute a landspeeder with a droid driving is called over.

“No droids” Mando huffs, the Ferryman seems to be telling him something but goes silent when credits are thrown his way. With a shrug, he sends away the droid and replaces it with some guy in a crumbling speeder, both you and the bounty share a look, not liking this idea but the man in charge drags the blue one in by the arm and orders you to follow. 

Heading to the yards, the driver starts scanning the area through his binocular device, you are seated in front with him, the Mandalorian behind you and the Mythrol next to him trying to have a chat with him but Mando seems uninterested.

“You’re looking for Ravinaks, right?” The Bounty yells over to the driver who gladly engages with the guy. 

“It’s clear right now! But be careful near the port. Everyone dumps their Gray Holds out. They think the whole entire planet is their own personal stink pit.” He replies as he pulls up to the Mandalorian’s ship, you don’t recognize the model but the bounty’s exclaim seems to tell you it is not up to his standards. He starts offering a Livery Cruiser as you exit the speeder, Mando hands you the chatterbox, which makes you drop the head onto the ground. He ignores your attempt to scold him as he goes to pay the driver. 

“Just trying to make things pleasant.” The bounty says to you trying to wiggle out of your grip as you bend down again to grab the head with your free hand. He is almost free from you but the Mandalorian slowly walking back to you two, stops him from bolting. _Of course you're more afraid of him._ You roll your eyes at the thought.

“Mando, can we pick up the pace please? I’m cold and I don’t want to meet those ravinat today!” you’d be snapping your fingers at him, but your hands were occupied with two bounties causing you nothing but trouble. At least the Quarren doesn’t have the nerve to correct your pronunciation. Although he is getting too frozen for your hand. You were starting to regret joining this bounty hunter, but like the Mythrol, you have no choice now.

“I’d stay off the ice if I were you.” The driver comments, starting his depressing speeder up and heading back wherever the hell he came from.

“You think there’s really something to worry about?” The bounty whimpers looking at Mando who still doesn't care what he has to say. The question also hangs in your head, you follow his gaze watching the driver rush off in the distance for a few moments only to be engulfed by some creature under the ice. Hearing its roar from where you stood scares the both of you, you let go of your hold on him as you run for the ship.

“Open the hatch! Open the hatch!” He screams. You actually look at the ship and see that it is wide open. Thinking of yourself, you run into the hull only to turn around to the sound of more ice breaking. It’s heading right for the ship. Not sure where Mando went, you peak back outside to see the bounty being his cowardly self. He’s just standing there screaming as it gets closer, you fling the Quarren carelessly into the ship, hearing it thunk against the wall and roll on the floor. You’re about to rush out to save his hide but the Mandalorian beats you to it, pushing you back inside as he pulls his bounty inside. Not a moment too soon, the Ravinak breaks through the ice to get a bite but only meets the ship’s leg shaking the whole thing like a groundquake making you slip on your severed head on the floor, Mando and company however rush up to the cockpit. 

Groaning at the pulsing pain on your ass you shove the head away from you in revenge, the monster still outside growling. Not wanting to be alone with said monster you take your silent friend up to the cockpit with you. As you open the door you see the Mythrol yammering away as Mando gets the ship up and running ready to leave, you sit down on the other passenger seat putting the head on your lap subconsciously. You and your blue comrade start to feel better as the ship starts lifting off, only for a certain someone outside to tug you back down to ground level, bringing back the panic. 

Mando tries to solve this issue the best he can with someone crying on his right and the stench of a decomposing alien on his left. He turns his chair to your side as he gets up, the Mythrol still yelling at him, but you’re just sitting there with the severed head on your lap, your eyes meeting his perfectly, like you know where to look. A chill runs down his spine at this, getting back on track he leaves you two and grabs his rifle just outside the cockpit. 

He tries not to think about how you could have taken his bounty and betray him by now, how you helped him back on Horuz when you didn’t have to. How well you fought beside him then. How badly he wanted to take you up on that offer to tend to his wounds just to be near someone again. His fear and pride was too big for that, he didn’t even bother to tell you no to your face. The pauldron on your shoulder and stash of beskar you supposedly have waiting on Nevarro brings him back to the reality of who you really are, his grip on the pulse rifle tightens. He moves down the ladder to deal with the first problem.

“ We gotta get out of here!” The bounty is yelling at you, moving towards your side of the cockpit to look at the creature still holding on. You aren’t sure what the Mandalorian was planning to do but the ship being violently tugged back down to the Ravinak, making the Mythrol fall into your lap, squishing the Quarren’s juices into your clothes drives you to act as well. 

“Ugh Great! Go sit down!” You yell at him, shoving the bounty off you and back into his seat, handing him the head, you take the pilot’s chair just as the creature below tugs hard, the ice outside breaking more as the Ravinak’s growls vibrate through the seats. Ignoring the cries of the bounty and the monster you grab onto the controls, fighting the sudden pull of the beast, you hold the ship steady so Mando doesn’t fall off the ship. This seems to help, as the muffled sound of electricity and the cries of pain coming from the Ravinak is heard along with the ship’s weight lifting as the monster moves on. The wave of relief washes over you and the bounty while you guide the ship off world. 

“Lets go, lets go, lets go.” The Mythrol chants. The monitor next to you is showing that the door down in the hull is now shut, you check the scanners for any more damage to the ship while the guy behind you keeps rambling on, which did nothing for you other than form a migraine at his existence. You prefer a silent ride home, that's why you run solo on hunts, being in groups always brought out the worst in you.

“ Calm down, it's not like wherever he’s taking you is gonna end well for you.” You comment, messing with the controls you look over to your shoulder for his reaction, the way he opens and closes his mouth briefly like a fish was ironic to you making you smile at your crude observation. An old friend of yours would have said something more cool and intimidating but this is you trying to be them, which you were never good at.

“ i-I doubt the Mandalorian would let you live after stealing that beskar! ” He snaps back at you, wiping the smirk off your face at the reminder of your dilemma. “ My offer still stands.” He says almost confidently but the door opening makes him suddenly lose his backbone as the Mandalorian stands on the other side. You jump out of his seat with the bounty’s remark playing in your head.

“Hey! I-i kept her warm for ya!” You dust off his seat gesturing for him to sit, grabbing your bounty off the smirking Mythrol, returning to your seat as Mando takes the controls leading the ship further into space. Neither you or the bounty want to interrupt his quiet time so the three of you sat in silence together.

If this was an adventure with your old crew there would have been a lot more hoopin’ and hollerin’ in the ship’s lower deck after an escape like that. Although, the quiet pilot was something you're familiar with, just like in those days. You always found yourself hiding out in the cockpit, watching the stars fly past you in hyperspace as you tried to calm your racing heart with silent company. The drinks and spice were passed around down below. The pilot would glance over to you when things finally got quiet. You would look back at him knowing he had so much to tell you but never had the time with the others around. The reminder of your old life and the situation you were in now did nothing much twist your heart into knots. The pilot sitting in front of you wasn’t the one your heart ached for. This one probably wants you dead so the sad thoughts will have to wait until you are off this ship to take over your mind once again. _Just gotta make it back to the little one_ . You tell yourself, you may long for your old life, long to be with him again, but now you have a new life to start. _He_ needs you to come back.

This silence goes on too long for the Mythrol as he starts complimenting the ship to get on Mando’s good side. “She’s a classic,” He informs you, but you are too busy holding back your emotions of the past to care to respond. “Razor Crest, am I right?” He stutters out to Mando who too doesn’t respond, “Pre- Empire?” He tries again. Nothing. The bounty looks to you for some help but you shake your head and mouth out “just stop” to him. This does nothing as he continues,

“I have a lot of credits, by the way. That's why I offered to hail a Cruiser.” He says to the pilot again but as he got no response he looks to you once more, raising where his eyebrows would be at you offering the credits to you silently. You shake your head in disgust that he’d think you would accept his offer now. The Mythrol looks to his capture again. 

“How much are they paying you?” He tries for a third time and shockingly, nothing from Mando. His patience with the bounty astounds you, your patience with the fella was already tapped out moments after meeting him. 

_“Is it true that you guys never take off your helmets?”_ As a bystander to this question, you were furious at this bounty’s boldness to ask that. What made this even more strange for you was that the Mandalorian did nothing, your old crew member wouldn’t let this slide. Quickly checking on Mando’s position, you lean over to the bounty to slap the back of his head. A sharp “ _ow”_ came out of him as you adjusted back in your seat, rolling your eyes at the big baby. What neither of you noticed was Mando’s grip on the joysticks loosening at the commotion behind him subsiding. Hearing such a stupid question and being some what defended by you, confused him on how to perceive you. His gut is telling him you mean no harm but The Way is telling him a thief like you can’t be trusted. 

“ I think I have to use the vacc tube.” The bounty says, interrupting Mando’s thoughts.

“Can’t you just hold it?!” Mando hears you whine behind him.

“I mean I can do it here, but if you’ve never seen a Fledgling Mythrol evacuate their thorax, you’re a lucky lady, trust me.”

“I didn't need to hear that!” You exclaim, gagging at the idea, going to cover your mouth but the sticky ooze from the head on your lap stops you. The both of you look to Mando for permission as he pulls a lever on his console but makes no remarks to this thrilling conversation. Thinking nothing means yes, the Mythrol gets up to go do his business. 

“Clearly, there's nowhere for me to go.” He appeals, “ So uh, I'm gonna look for that vacc tube if that's all the same to you?” Not giving the Mandalroian a chance to ignore him again he moves out of the cockpit leaving you alone with him. Unsure what to do, you look at your hands as the ooze from the head stains your skin and clothes, the head not being on a freezing planet anymore is starting to soften and leak more than it did before. Against your better judgement, you sniff your free hand, pulling away quickly as the pungent, salty smell invades your nostrils. You reach for your shirt, putting it to your face which was a bad idea, the smell was also there and now smudged on your nose, thinking there would be a different result you smell the head which blasts you with the smell of rotting fish. _You’re not alone,_ you remember, you find a dry spot on your left shoulder to wipe away remains off your nose. Looking up you see he hasn’t moved his head at all, _you’re in the clear_ you assess. 

Mando heard you sniff and groan in disgust each time, the idea of you being this malicious corpse robber was starting to sound just as ridiculous as you were being. _How could someone like her get the upper hand against a Mandalorian?_ He thinks to himself.

“ I need to find a better place for you stinky-” You mumble to yourself, “Uh, do you have a spare bag or something I could borrow?” You hesitantly ask. Not really expecting an answer, a modulated sigh makes you flinch as he messes with the console turning to you again staring you down, the Mythrol outside the cockpit yells up.

“Found it! Thanks. It might take a while. I’m molting!” You try to not roll your eyes at the bounty but you can't help it when he yells again, “ Oh, this feels a lot better.”

“Don’t move.” Mando rises from his seat, the Mythrol is still yammering but you pay no mind to it as the Mandalorian in front of you is talking to you. Although an order you’d usually refuse, you do nothing but stare at the towering man and give a meek nod as he leaves the cockpit, the door sliding shut behind him again. The whole ship was silent save for the muffled Mythrol down under. The Mandalorian must be floating in his own ship, you lean over your seat to listen for his footsteps on the ladder but nothing comes. You have a bad feeling about this silence in the ship. A man covered in metal moving around in his own ship, there should be clunking noises heard at least since he’s off the clock. The silence tells you that he might not be done with his bounty, this sends a chill down your spine, in excitement or fear you can’t tell but you hold your breath, waiting for something to happen. 

The thunderous hissing suddenly breaking the silence makes you jolt in your seat, screaming in shock but you slap your hand over your mouth to keep quiet. The stench of the head stabs your senses again, throwing your hand away from you, keeping your mouth shut to avoid the sticky ooze from touching the inside of your mouth. You look around your belt for some cloth to wipe it off but find none. Scolding yourself for this mess you created, you place the head on the floor and rip off your shawl to wipe your face. You whine your frustrations into the cloth at the chore of washing off this bounty from your clothes when you make it to Nevarro. _If you can make it._ You tell yourself. Lifting your head with a sniffle, you find a clean spot on the shawl you bury your now dry face in it to calm yourself, breathing in the original smell of the shawl as you keep an ear out for Mando. The hissing has stopped and his footsteps can be heard. Almost. 

The Mandalorian is looking at the now frozen Mythrol added to his other bounties when he notices the stains of your bounty’s head on the floor of his ship. He sighs at the new chore as he goes to find a bag for you. Checking his other belongings, making sure nothing has been stolen by you or the bounty, he plans what to do with you. You aren’t that much of a threat to him, you seem to follow his lead easily, he tries not to think about the way you looked up at him when he stood above you. He tried not to think about how much he liked having your eyes on him. Or the small yelping noise he heard from above. He instead reminds himself that if he gets you back to Nevarro he can return the beskar to his clan and forget all about you. _Where did she even get the beskar?_ This thought and what he knows about you now gives him an idea. Since he is stuck with you here, he might as well get some answers from you. One way or another. Bag in hand, he heads back up the cockpit, finding you with your face buried in your shawl, _strange again_ he thinks. You lift your head and look unknowingly straight into his eyes again, seeing the fear on your face almost makes him feel bad for you. But the mysterious beskar resting on your shoulder now in full view, corrects his hesitation. 

“I said don’t move.” He grunts out, watching you pull the shawl away from your face thinking he’s really mad at you for disobeying.

“Oh I thought you meant to stay up here while you did,” You gesture toward the ladder, “w-what whatever to the guy.” Flashing a smile, you use the shawl to cover up the mess that is your clothes but Mando pays no mind to that, looking at the bag in his hand before holding it open for you.

“Here. You’re dirtying up my ship with that thing.” He says, watching you drop the shawl, grab the head and reluctantly move in close to him to put the head in the bag. Although being his idea, the close proximity makes you both uneasy.

“ I can clean that up, well after dealing with my own mess here.” You tie off the bag and put it on your seat, then show your hands and pull at your shirt for Mando to see the damage it has done, “and all that talk o-of thoraxes and vacc tubes makes a girl gotta go!” You really don’t want to go down there and find out what Mando did to the Mythrol but you truly had to go. The risk of being one of the Mandalorians victims didn’t phase your bladder. 

“Where did you get the beskar? ” He responds, he hasn’t moved from your personal bubble even though he should get away from that smell of fish. The uneasy smile forced on your face drops at the confrontation, and Mando even notices the change in your eyes. They’ve become cold, and devoid of life unlike the vibrant eyes his mind has memorized by now. These eyes were like the ones he had to leave behind a long time ago.

“I didn't steal it if that's what you're asking. L-listen-” 

“-No Mandalorian would hand over their armor to some bounty hunter.” he cuts you off, he starts moving in closer to you, you step back in response.

“ Well actually that's- funny he did!” You try to laugh off, but Mando only moves in closer.

“Where is he then?” He’s really gonna make you spell it out for him, _but why?_ You think. _To make me relive those moments? Or is he just stupid?_ Either way it's making that migraine come back in full swing.

“ Where do you think?!” you yell, your cheeks are burning up at his close proximity, embarrassed that he can look right at the tears forming in your eyes but all you can see is the ‘T’ shaped visor devoid of any humanity.

“Did you kill him?” He says, backing you into the corner of the cockpit now, you can’t move.

“ Fuck, i-i mean technically ye-yes but listen-” That is all you can say before his hands are on your shirt. Shoving you against the wall, you cling onto his wrists, tears fall down your cheeks as one hand lands on your neck. 

“H-haat… uh ijaa, haa'it! Haat, ijaa, haa'it!” You blurt out remembering the words he taught you to say, Mando’s grip slightly loosens at this.

“ Y- you speak Mando’a? You’re a Mandalorian?” Mando wonders out loud, confused with you once again.

“No, he just told me to say that if I ever got in this kind of trouble. h-He never told me what it meant.” He lets you go at the new information but hasn’t moved from the corner.

“ It's what we say to seal a pact. Why would he trust you?” It wasn’t making any sense for Mando sadly, the way things are unfolding is different than he planned so all this does is confuse him more.

“ Because he’s my partner!!-was my partner.” Wiping the tears away from your face with one hand, rubbing your neck at the relieved pressure with the other. You’re hoping he can pick up that you really don't want to open up to the guy who just attacked you. But Mando stands there, tilting his head like a child waiting for you to explain more. It would've been a cute sight to see, if he didn’t try to choke you ten seconds ago. Now it just looks like he’s toying with you, which annoys you more than the Mythrol did.

“Fuck man, ok long story short; job went bad, he knew wasn’t going to make it so I promised him to keep the beskar safe until it can be brought back to his people. A-and he didn’t want me to watch him suffer,” Your attempt to rush this part out fails as your voice cracks at the memory of his pain, ''so He-h-”You have to stop yourself again looking up at the ship's ceiling forcing the tears from falling again, “-UGH!! You know this ‘Way’ code more than me so you figure out the rest!” You wave your hand in defeat, looking back at him you see Mando’s chest rising and falling in sync with yours. 

He shouldn’t believe you, there’s no way to really prove it to be true. But those damn eyes, the look of them no longer cold and lifeless as he thought, but a look he’s only seen in the mirror.

The ship cuts in at this moment with its console beeping and chirping for its captain to return. Mando, grateful for this distraction, walks back to his seat checking on the ship before setting up the navigator to enter hyperspace. He takes this moment to calm down and rethink his plans with you, silently glad that you might not be what he feared. It's rare for him to hear of outsiders being close with other Mandalorians, you must have been with this Mando to be trusted with their armor. How long have you been alone with the beskar? He tries to remember if he ever saw you with a Mando on Nevarro, or if he knows of any Mandos with a Rancor signet in his covert, but nothing comes to mind. Another time he could ask you about this Mando he concludes, if you ever want to see him again. His body seems to be returning to his usual state of being, although not completely as the guilt of almost killing you boils his chest. This pact you had was why you helped him back on Horuz, he realizes, to finally fulfill the promise you made to the fallen. You saving his life and protecting his Creed’s traditions makes the guilt grow more but he brushes it off to watch the stars turn into nothing but a blur for the two of you. The two of you alone just like on Horuz. This other feeling he barely knew begins to grow for you inside as well. Respect? Admiration? Pity? Whatever it is, it's making him queasy.

“ It's a long ride to Nevarro,” Is all he says to you, not well experienced with subtly changing subjects, or starting them for that matter, “Quarren doesn’t come off easily.” You make no move for the door like he hoped for, you haven’t made any moves at all since he let you go. 

This was the best case scenario when you thought of meeting with a Mandalorian, but now that you're here, already being a witness and almost a victim to his strength, you are understandably scared of this game he might be playing with you. But your partner used to tell you that his kind kept their word, which was somewhat reassuring, but not enough.

“So you’re helping me?! With the pact?” You ask, unsure what to expect from this bounty hunter. 

“This is the Way.” He tests you, flipping more switches to keep himself busy.

“ I go down there and I won’t end up like our blue friend, r-right?” The door opens for you, some button he has on him you figure, knowing that line to be used to end discussions, you shuffle out of the cockpit to finally deal with your mess.

The fresher is...something alright. A little too claustrophobic for your comfort but it got the job done of cleaning any of the Quarren that found its way to your skin and hair. Mando never said that you _couldn’t_ use the fresher, you rationalized that the beskar would pay for a ride and shower service. However the issue of your dirty clothes came to the forefront, you have been scrubbing the loose scales and stains of alien blood off your shirt while sitting on the floor in the fresher for a while now and it seems to barely work. Giving up, you shut off the water, wring out and toss your clothes over some makeshift rack to dry. Out of the tiny fresher, you put back on your underwear and bra, thankful that they were saved from the mess, you watch yourself in Mando’s mirror in front of you. 

You feel somewhat refreshed, you look the part too, you watch yourself rub your hot cheeks letting out a sigh at the upcoming farewell party for the beskar. The Pauldron sits in the sink, water droplets falling from the rancor skull back down the drain. Maybe if you start crying again this Mando would let you keep something of your Mando to yourself. The feelings of guilt and shame flooding within you shoves you to the sink, you hang your head down, your hands holding onto the sink for support. You know that’s not what he asked of you, you need to do the right thing. But what has that ever got you? If you were on your own, this Mando wouldn’t even be on your radar! But you’re not on your own; you can’t ignore the pact any longer. You lift your head to stare yourself down in the mirror, your fingers clawing at the sink in frustration. The face is looking back at you, eyebrows moving down in anger at your hesitation to complete the mission, you try not to give in to the guilt, but like a child being scolded, you begrudgingly listen to your conscious. Pushing yourself from the sink in a huff, you turn around to the rack and grab your pants, giving it a good shake before putting one leg after the other into the moist clothing. Thinking that Mando would leave you alone down here to clean the mess in the hull, you leave the shirt behind as it is the grossest of the bunch, you take the pauldron with you out of habit and open the fresher door. Right as it slides open you see Mando standing there with something in his arms, you don't bother to check what it is. You’re too busy trying to recover from the heart attack you're having.

“Maker, i-is knocking even a thing for you people?!” You yell at him, unable to see his flushed face inside the helmet. He would move away but the sight of you hiding your chest with the beskar freezes him in place. Should he leave or turn around? He can’t think straight so he just closes his eyes but quickly realises all you can see is him staring you down. Saving you both from the embarrassment, you shut the door. This whole new ordeal makes you bury your head into the pauldron on your chest, the metal cooling down your burning face. His footsteps can be heard louder now as he makes his way back up the cockpit, leaving you alone hopefully for the rest of the trip. You put on the soaking shirt before opening the door again, with the coast clear you walk out only to kick something soft on the floor, you bend over to inspect what it is. A raggedy brown long sleeve shirt, he was getting you a shirt. _How sweet of him._

Not wanting to get this dirty too, you put it back down and chuck off your old shirt, making sure nothing was stuck on you, you put on the kind gesture. Looking up the ladder, quickly rolling up the sleeves and fixing your hair, 

“Thanks! I owe you!” You yell up hearing nothing in return as expected, you turn your attention back to the dirty hull. Best way to avoid him would be to clean up your mess, you shrug to yourself, getting to work. 

Reaching Nevarro was even longer than you remember, it didn't help that Mando said nothing to you the rest of the ride there, with the hull not looking like a crime scene anymore you figured he’d say something when you went back up to the cockpit. But no, he just sat there the whole time ignoring you cleaning any other blood stains found there and your attempts at an apology. You were almost starting to enjoy this silence but the ship begins to exit hyperspace, the planet of Nevarro sits there waiting for your return, bringing the anxiety of working on the next phase of your plan to the front of your mind. It shouldn’t be too hard, you just need to bring the armor to Mando, get your credits and find a way off this planet without the guild knowing you ever orbited near them. Easy! 

The two of you are entering the atmosphere now, the clouds of this planet being cut through with the ship, Mando begins his landing protocols as the town comes into view. You’re looking around from your seat, just as seedy as you remember, spotting your apartment first on the northern side of town. Little specks of lifeforms walking around your block, the marketplace must have moved closer to your area, noticing more people than usual. You finally see what’s left of your ship on the far end of the shipyard, the light freighter collecting dust is what you once called home. As far as you could see it looks guarded by a small group of lifeforms, of course it would be hard now, but the important part now was holding up your end of the deal with Mando. The groups of people come into closer view as Mando flies the ship in, seeing them chatting with hands or claws near their weapons. You know what they’re hanging around for, you quickly duck your head from the windows when the group looks over at you direction.

He turns the cockpit around to face away from the town, the ship's exhausts hissing out as you both land. You hop up, give your back a good stretch at the long ride and get ready to move quick if needed. You meet him at the bottom of the ladder, Quarren sack in hand, he waits for you to be beside him to press the button opening the ship. Mando turns to you at the sound of the ramp hitting the ground. Looking back at him your eyes drift down to his fists, he's clenching them and unclenching them.

“ Meet back here in one hour with the beskar.” He grunts out, making you look up at him.

“An hour?! I have a lot of errands to do, mail and groceries a-and stuff like that. Plus, I gotta turn in this guy!” Throwing the bag up, “I’ll meet you back at sundown how about that!” You try to walk off before he can disagree but he stops you from leaving the ramp with a hand yanking you back towards him.

“ One hour or deal’s off.” You stop to huff at this, you must have been overthinking the gesture he made with the shirt. Wanting this done and over with, you shake him off and march on towards town leaving him behind, needing to focus getting out of here in under an hour now. Watching you go he notices the shifting glances you send around each corner, like you are looking for someone, eventually you disappear into the crowd heading north. One hour is plenty of time, he argues to himself, strutting his way into town as well.

Entering the Cantia, the chatty patrons watch in obvious envy of Mando, a thing he usually ignores, instead he looks back at them. Without them knowing of course, he takes advantage of this privilege, trying to picture you here being chummy with these rough looking hunters. He knows you’re not a delicate flower, Horuz was all the proof he needed to know that you can take care of yourself. But comparing you to the thugs, killers, and opportunists surrounding him now, he can’t see you being like them. His first impression of you maybe he could see that, but not after seeing the tears you shed over someone like him, _what could have changed you?_ he wonders.

“Ah, that was fast. Did you catch them all?” Greef Karga inquires, bringing Mando’s focus back to his work. He answers him by placing the fobs on the table which Greef accepts calling over someone to ‘begin the offload’ in Huttese. Removing his rifle, Mando moves to sit with Greef pausing slightly at the sight of the credits being placed on the table.

“These are Imperial Credits,” Mando starts to argue, knowing his game.

“They still spend,” Greef shrugs.

“I don’t know if you heard but the Empire is gone.” Mando says, watching his guild leader lean back in his seat.

“It's all got.” Mando rolls his eyes at this, having a better payday coming in an hour he grabs the fobs to leave but is stopped before he can get up.

“Save the theatrics. Fine, I’ll…” Greef gives in reaching into his pocket, “I can do Calamari Flan, but I can only pay half.”

“Fine.” Mando agrees, grabbing the squishy flan, returning the fobs to the table. He sighs as he now waits on Karga to pull out his next bounties.

Elsewhere, you’re speed walking to your apartment resting on the edge of town ahead of you, keeping an eye out for any guild members not wasting away in the cantia. You hold your head up high in fake confidence, playing things casually to avoid suspicion, the bloody bag smacking your hip wouldn’t help you in that case if you were somewhere with actual law enforcement. One positive to this place you remind yourself. Passing by carts of various types of food your stomach growls at the smell of sweet treats and savory creatures sitting on the stands. Back in the day, you would have lost your appetite at the sight of a bug near any food, but now a little bruised fruit or small health code violation means little to you. Passing by close to one cart with fruits and curled rolls of bread that have definitely seen better days, you quicken your pace to swiping one of the smaller rolls sitting on the edge. You shove the whole thing in your mouth, the taste of a sweet fruit you never knew the name of baked into the roll being a pleasant surprise, before anyone can catch you red handed, your pride is lightly stroked as no screams or blaster fire is sent your way. _Oh if the guys saw you now_. The thought of the whole gang seeing you become more like them puts a smirk on your face, not because you’re happy about it, but the poetic joke of becoming what you always worked to never be. Thanks to the fall of the Empire you lost everything, and everyone that mattered to you. 

Your apartment building grows in size as you walk closer to it, you stop in your tracks at the sight of a human male and a female Twi'lek exiting the building, blasters at their hips as they rest at the railing of the building searching the crowd. You recognized them, bounty hunters as you’ve heard their drunk stories of their epic hunts at the cantina before this. You notice the male has a sniper rifle, that is definitely not his, resting against his front lazily smacking his knees when he walked. Seeing him not even knowing how to carry it right has your blood boiling at his disrespect. You don’t have time to think of how he got it because they spot you as well, the Twi’lek being the first to move hoping over the railing to reach you quicker. The man tries to run too but stops to adjust the rifle’s straps as the gun keeps hitting his knees. Backing up you take off to your left to the dinghy alleyway, hoping to make it through and give them the slip. The sound of your footsteps meeting the ground is matched with the Twi’lek and human, they're gaining on you. 

Knowing this won’t end without a fight, you turn left again at the end of the alleyway, grab the first thing you can find on the floor, a rusty durasteel pipe, and wait for one of them to pass you. You groan at your own short thinking as the blaster you have on you is a quicker option but the incoming footsteps stop you from reaching for it. The Twi'lek is the unlucky one, you blindly swing at the sight of her pink face breaking through the grey and yellow buildings. A _crack_ and shriek of agony comes out of her as she flops to the floor clutching her broken nose. Dropping the bloody pipe you hop over the girl and almost sprint towards you home but the other hunter grabs you from behind, hand gripping your hair tight as he slams you face first into the wall. 

“You fucking bitch! Get up Voz!!” He yells into your ear, moving his forearm around your neck, you gasp for air but barely any makes it through. The girl struggles to get up from the ground, you groan at the massive headache you now have as she finally makes her way over to her partner that's holding you up.

“You’re dead for that asshole,” She reaches for her vibroblade inching closer.

“Nonono honey, Karga wants her alive, or we won’t get paid.” The man says backing away from his partner pushing himself closer to the wall behind him. The sniper rifle now stinging your back as you're pulled against it. _Thank the maker it's not loaded._ You think. She moves in closer with a huff, putting away her knife.

“Fine, but I get to break more than her nose first!” He nods chuckling at her remark and holding you still for her, you start breathing in as much air as possible as his arms move to hold yours back. Knowing now’s your chance, you lift up your free legs, and kick the Twi'lek in the chest making her fall back on her ass out of breath. The momentum throws the man against the wall with a grunt, the blaster between the two of you digs into his stomach. Ignoring the pain in spine, you take this time to throw your head back at his face, his own cries of pain match the girl’s. His hands loosen their hold on you, you take this chance to swing an elbow to his head for extra measure. Now free, you turn around and toss your right knee into his side while he’s distracted with his pain. You slam his forehead into the wall in revenge, once, twice and almost a third time if she didn't recover and tackle you to the ground. The now bloody man tries to get up to help but his partner doesn't need it as she is throwing punch after punch at your face. She starts to choke you, screaming at you things you probably don't want to translate. Unfogging your head the best you can, you slide out your blaster, shove it into her chest and pull the trigger.

Her body goes limp on top of you, smoke coming out in between her shoulder blades. You take these few seconds of silence to enjoy not being strangled for the third time today, sniffling and groans from the man and the deadline from Mando sturs you back into action. You toss the Twi'lek body off you, taking your time to get up as the pain from her onslaught catches up to you. Using the wall as support you pull yourself back up on two feet wiping away any blood onto the shirt thinking it was your shirt to dirty up. You wave your hands in the air in frustration at your action turning your attention to the sniffling man staring at his partner while his head is covered in blood. Pointing the blaster at his head gains his attention, looking at you with blood in his eyes from the pressure in his head. _Red eyes...of course_.

“W-wai-wait,” Is all he slurs as his eyes drift away, with a sigh you lower the blaster seeing that he’s not worth the trouble.

“I wasn’t here, got it?” He sluggishly nods with you, taking that as a yes, you pat his cheek with the barrel of your blaster, “and give me this back, you dick.” You grunt out ripping the rifle off the man giving him a kick in the side when he tried to resist making him whine at the pain. With a huff and a sob threatening to pour out you sling the precious rifle to your back and turn the way you ran in. “Sorry about your girlfriend.” you choke out as you walk away.

Back on the street you notice the bag with the Quarren on the ground while adjusting the strap of your weapon, bending over to grab it. Coming back up was a trip, swaying too much for you to handle, you brace yourself against the closet stand which the owner does not like, cussing at you in huttese and shoving you off. Forcing yourself to keep moving you finally make it to the entrance of your building. Inside you wobble to the lift and reach the second floor, seeing that it's empty you walk down the hall finding the door labeled B9 but the nine is missing on the busted panel. Oh and your door is wide open making the drowsiness leave your face, you rush inside.

It wasn’t the most luxurious place on Nevarro but it was nice enough to have a lift and working doors. Your place was completely ransacked unfortunately, furniture flipped or broken leaning against the walls, drawers and busted datapads scattered across the floor. Finding your way into your bedroom you find your clothes everywhere, dressers destroyed. Running to the opened panel in the floor next to where your dresser would be, you see that your stash of credits is gone along with any jewelry and forged documents you hid there for this exact type of crisis. Huffing and puffing you slam your fist to the floor as you get up, forming a new plan.. _what is it now plan E?_ _Whatever Plan E!_ You walk into your bathroom to find some bacta and gameplan for real.

How kind of the two to leave something behind, now with a clearer head and fresh clothes you pack up anything of importance left behind. Leaning the rifle against the living room wall, you find your personal commlink, seeing that it's still functional you comm your client as you continue packing. Checking the broken clock you see that you have about thirty minutes left before meeting up with Mando. 

“Who is this?!” The client says startling you for a second but you recover.

“ It's someone with good news for you, Zashu!” You exclaim in his language, in your best customer service voice hunched over a pile of shattered datapads. 

“You finally got the bastard?!” The old Sullustan exclaims.

“ Oh yeah it was … eh not easy, but he’s all yours for the agreed upon price!” You bargain, finally finding what you're looking for in the pile. Getting up you throw the furniture off the wall searching for the one spot.

“About that, business has been slow for us, my wife and I can barely scrounge up enough credits for fuel as it is! ... i- w-we were hoping we could uhh… renegotiate terms?” This stops you in your tracks, not wanting to blow up on him you try to compose yourself.

“ This was a non-negotiable deal, Zash, i-i mean this was outside of Guild business I could get arrested for this! Or worse, you know!” You push out the service voice again through your teeth.

“O-oh we know please! We know you did this out of the k-kindness o-of your heart and after what that thing did to our-” You look down to your comm in pity, hearing him sniffle and sigh, “Please we can work something out, a-anything you want!” Checking your clock again you see that three minutes have passed. Your ship is most likely still guarded or rigged to blow up if they were getting creative and you are in no shape to fight again, knowing nothing of real value would be there, another idea pops in your head.

“Do you have any deliveries to run offworld today?” You patiently ask, leaning against the wall, rubbing your forehead to soothe yourself.

“Yes actually we were going to make our way to Coruscant tonight, why do you need a package sent?” He jokes half heartedly.

“ I need you and your wife to drop me off somewhere in the next twenty minutes. If you can do that for me, I can call us even.” Credits be damned, you just need to get off world before Greef figures out you’re here.

“Oh thank the stars! You got yourself a deal missy- uh ma'am! We can get the ship ready in ten for you!” Hearing his chipper tone put a small smile on your face as well. You're more happy that you secured a ride but Zashu has a contagious laugh as well.

“Alright I’ll be there then, and just so you know I might have some friends at the shipyard to deal with so be ready to fly out immediately if things get sour.” You hear the client agree with your plan as you hang up. With a sigh of relief as something is going alright today. Standing in the silence longer than you should, you look around your destroyed home one last time. Turning around, you throw the crooked and now tagged painting hanging on the wall in front of you across the room. You stare at the poorly retouched section of the wall, the dents and lumps of the cheap walling painted over with the wrong shade of white being the biggest give away, you grab a leg piece of your old coffee table and with a long sigh you ram it into the hollow wall. Carving into the wall you find the bag you kept safe here, reaching in you grab the bag and sit on the floor to check its condition. Slowly opening the bag you are met with the all too familiar ‘T’ visor of the helmet sitting on top of the polishing supplies and notebook they left you behind. Holding back the tears, you slowly pull out the helmet, memorizing every detail left on the paint job he always asked you to help maintain. The orange surrounding the helmet was almost chipped away but the blue hiding in the mock cheekbones and the red outlining the visor were still in good condition safe for a few cracks. Holding the helmet close to your heart, you go back into the bag for the notebook he made back in the day. _This book is the one thing the Empire can never track or that you can hack!_ Knowing the illegible words and ugly holos of the crew together are hiding inside were the last of the Empire’s worries makes the sobs escape you, sitting alone in your cold apartment you pull out the supplies but push them away to hold the helmet to your head, needing the extra time to give the rest of his armor a final goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you made it this far I'm proud of you and thank you!  
> I make art too so if you wanna see visuals for the fic (eventually) or whatever you can follow me on my tumblr( https://onlyart.tumblr.com/) or my insta (@ intergalacticartiste )for more art and oc stuff related to star wars :)  
> *Translations ( I got from that one Mandalorian dictionary chart):
> 
> Cabur  
> [KAH-boor]  
> guardian, protector
> 
> Haat, ijaa, haa'it  
> [Haht-i-JAH-hah-EET]  
> Truth, honor, vision - words used to seal a pact.


	2. Part 2: The Rumor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mando learns about his new job, while getting more info about you and the armor you posses from close allies. He’s unsure what to think of you just yet, but maybe running into you again will give him some clarity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have returned with part 2! We will be getting more lore on your backstory so bear with me. (sorry i just wanted to treat your role like its a character in the show with more to do than just being a sucker for Mando like me. hehe I’m also just having too much fun with it the reader, so :P). I’m a lil anxious to share just because I go off too much, but i like how its this idea is coming out, and i hope you all do too! <3

Part 2: The Rumor

“Hmm. I have a bail jumper,” Greef says, pulling out another puck he looks to Mando, “A bail jumper, another bail jumper, and a wanted smuggler.”

“I’ll take them all.” Mando says impatiently, going to slide them over to his side but Greef puts his hand over them.

“No. Hold on.” Chiding Mando like a baby, who pulls back into his seat with a tilt in his head, already annoyed. “There are other members of the guild and this is all I have.”

“Why so slow?”

“It’s not slow at all, actually. Very busy. They just don't want to pay Guild rates. They don’t mind if things get sloppy.” Greef says. The word sloppy brings you back into Mando’s mind, _ Must be why she isn’t here in the cantina. _ His mind being surprisingly distracted today, flashes the images of you in his fresher, without a shirt.  _ You didn’t look so sloppy then, _ his mind comments for him, with a quick adjustment in his seat he shakes away the thoughts. Back to business.

“What’s your highest bounty?” Mando sighs, not sure how long he’s got before he meets up with you again. Not that he’s looking forward to it, getting his hands on the beskar is just more interesting than talking business with Greef Karga.  _ That's all. _

“Not much. Five thousand.” He says resting his arm at the back of the booth with a sigh.

“That won't even cover fuel these days.” Mando huffs, watching Greef pause to think of what to say next instead of just babbling away; is a new sight for Mando to see. Clicking his tongue, Karga leans in.

“There is one job” He mummers to Mando but nearby patrons were still able to look over to their table, he keeps a close eye on them but holds his head to Greef.

“Lets see the puck.” 

“No puck, face to face. Direct commission, deep pocket.”

“Underworld?” Mando asks, now intrigued at this ominous sales pitch, Greef shuffles in his seat pulling out a tiny white rectangle from one of his pockets.

“All I know is no chain code, do you want the chit or not?” He says, offering the chit. Mando stares at it, but the two are cut off by the commotion at the front. Greef being able to see the entrance from his seat spots the bloodied human male marching over towards his table. Mando turns around as the man moves closer, more like wobbles as far as he can tell. He can see that the man’s eyes are filled with blood, making the trip to their table disorienting for the guy.

“You said this would be an easy job Karga!” The red man yells, Greef’s guards come in to hold the man back. He does nothing but pull out the fob from his pocket, throwing it to the table everyone involved watching it slide off and clattering down to the floor next to his boss's foot.

“Now, if I knew one woman was too much for you to handle, I would have gone with someone else!” Greef snarks back, placing the chit on the table. He bends over in his seat to grab the fob off the ground, dusts it off with his gloves and places it next to the chit on the table. The guards relax a little at Greef’s request but they stay close to the man who begins to struggle to stay upright. He starts leaning against the man closer to Mando who, like everyone else in the bar, watches the conversation go on.

“That traitor k-knew we were coming! She got the drop on us, she- sh-she killed Voz right in front of me!” The man pushes out, Mando watches red stained tears leave the man’s cheeks as another person, a friend he assumes, pulls the man away to grieve privately. A sigh leaves the two at the table as the chatter returns to the bar, turning back to each other, Greef rolls his eyes at the man.

“If you’d like an extra job, I have an easy one for you.” He pitches to Mando pulling out a puck and fob from his other pocket.

“Why wasn’t this one with the others?” Mando asks. 

“This one is a more...confidential matter,” Leaning in again, Greef hushes to Mando, “We have a traitor in our fold.” Activating the puck, Mando’s whole body tenses at the sight of your face rotating in the holo. He realizes he never bothered to get your name, seeing it written out for him made that queasy feeling return. He knows to not underestimate someone based on looks but you didn't even look like you belonged here as well. You were younger in this holo, whatever makeup you had around your eyes was smeared across your cheeks in an unflattering way.  _ You were crying here too. _ He notes to himself.

“How is she a traitor?” Mando breathes out, curiosity getting the best of him, someone who usually wouldn’t make it a day in this occupation caused enough damage to get a bounty on their head? He needs to know more.

“She refused to turn in a bounty, from the same commission as this one,” He picks up the chit for emphasis, "I managed to smooth things over with the Client, letting them know that the Guild will deal with her personally...I uh- also received a very  _ explosive _ transmission informing me she’s abandoning the guild.” Mando is lucky no one can see the smirk on his face at the thought of the tiny holo of you yelling at Greef. Looking at Greef now, his face scrunches up in frustration before he speaks what else is on his mind.

“I gave this girl a chance to make something of herself with this guild. I knew she was trouble the second I saw her, but she knew how to sell herself, especially showing up covered in armor like yours.” Mando straightens up in his seat, his shoulders tense up as he waits for more information, Greef notices his head tilt. “I was surprised to see the both of you return from that bounty on Horuz, I thought you met the same fate as the bounty she turned in!” Mando’s hand resting on his lap clenches at this news. “I’m sure your kind isn’t too fond of people flaunting around in a dead man's armor like it's some trophy, bragging about the kill to anyone. Almost everyone in the cantia has heard it from her three times over!” He scoffs at this but Mando is fuming underneath his armor.

“I’ll take it.” Mando huffs out his chest visibly rising and falling. He didn’t need to hear anymore to understand his mistake. He’s more annoyed at how he believed your lies than the fact that you screwed him over on Horuz. Greef lets out a sigh tapping his hand between the devices resting on the table, “Bring her back alive and when we're done giving her a proper send off, she's all yours. I’m sure the armor she has can pay more than enough for fuel.” Mando says nothing as he grabs both the chit, puck, and fob from Greef and leaves the cantina.

So many thoughts racing through his mind;  _ Was she really lying? Was anything about her story real? Were those tears just an act?  _ Letting you go on your own was a mistake he realizes while walking through the town. You could be long gone by now. He trusted you too easily. He’s more annoyed at you now, making him hunt you down, but he puts that job on the side for the time being as he goes to meet this commissioner. 

Reaching the location, Mando knocks on the grey door sitting in the alleyway, a gatekeeper droid pops out next to the door speaking another language. Mando shows the droid the chit, the droid takes a few seconds to scan it and then returns to its hidey hole. The door opens to a Gonk droid waiting in front of it to greet the Mandalorian. Walking in, Mando takes his time looking around the hallway as the droid escorts him in. Reaching the end of the hallway, the droid opens the door to a room occupied by a man sitting in the center with dirtied stormtroopers at his side. Mando’s eyes, thankfully hidden from the group, shot open at the sight, keeping a hand close to his holster, he tries to steady his racing heart as he walks into the room.

Slowly entering, Mando counts four troopers in the room, the door behind him seals him in with the party much to his dismay. He notices another door on the right side of the room, thinking maybe more troopers are hiding in there. Before he can focus on an escape plan if things get sour, the man in the center makes himself known with a click of his tongue.

“Greef Karga said you were coming.” The Commissioner says with a nasally and strained voice. The troopers move out of Mando’s way as he walks over to meet the man.

“What else did he say?” Mando’s voice is voice steady and stern while he stares down the old man, his voice may seem calm but his heart still races. His blood is boiling at the symbol of the empire hanging on the old man’s neck like a badge of honor. His hands covered in his gloves start to clam up by his holster, fingers twitching to reach for his blaster but he forces himself steady.  _ Not yet. _

“He said you were the best in the parsec.” The man hasn’t moved from his seat but the door Mando noticed earlier swooshes open, he quickly draws out his blaster at the intruder. The troopers point their weapons at him but Mando swings out his pulse rifle at them as well. Their yells for surrender are ignored by him as he stands his ground creating a standoff in the room.

“No, no, no, no! Pardon, uh sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm.” The man in the glasses said looking away and shaking his hands in surrender, a fob clutched in one hand.

The Commissioner gets up now, raising a hand at the man to calm down, “This is Doctor Pershing.” He says, gliding to the front of his table to speak to Mando. “ Please excuse his lack of decorum. His enthusiasm outweighs his discretion.” Looking down to the blaster he now stands beside he adds, “Please lower your blaster.”

“Have them lower theirs first.” Mando says gesturing to the troopers on his left, silently hoping his request to be ignored.

“We have you four to one.” One of the troopers argues.

“I like those odds.” Mando sasses back. The commissioner moves in closer to Mando now, that queasy feeling he had when you were this close together in his ship wasn’t what he was feeling, the old man did nothing but infuriate him.

“He also said you were expensive. Very expensive. Please sit.” The Commissioner says, walking back to his seat, keeping his eyes on Mando. With a wave of his hand the troopers lower their weapons, Mando follows suit holstering his blaster but holds on to his rifle as he sits with the man. The doctor scurries over to the table as well while Mando watches a black cloth slide towards him, the old man’s hand unfolds the cloth with a dramatic flourish to reveal a single ingot of Beskar. 

“Go ahead, it's real.” The man gloats, putting his hands on his lap to allow Mando to reach for the metal. “This is only a down payment.” He says watching Mando rub his thumb over the sleek metal, the symbol of the empire burned into the ingot mocks Mando showing off its place of origin.“ I have a camtono of Beskar waiting for you upon delivery of the asset.”

“Alive.” Doctor Pershing cuts in, Mando turns his head to him.

“Yes, alive.” The man grovels out, leaning towards Mando, “Although I acknowledge that bounty hunting is a complicated profession. This being the case, proof of termination is also acceptable for a lower fee.”

“That is not what we agreed upon!” The Doctor pleads to the Commissioner.

“I am simply being pragmatic.” The man looks over to the Doctor who lowers his head into submission.

“Lets see the puck.” Mando says wanting this done and over with.

“I’m afraid discretion dictates a less traditional agreement. We can only offer you a tracking fob.” Waving in the doctor to hand over the fob to Mando.

“What’s the chain code?” He asks while putting the fob on his person and reaching for his left vambrace to type it in.

“We can only provide the last four digits” The man says, stopping the Mandalorian in his motion, looking up the the man,

“Their age? That’s all you can give me?”

“Yes. They’re 50 years old. We can also give you last reported positional data. Between that and the fob, a man of your skills should make short work of this.” Mando stares at him for a minute, seeing that the Commissioner's patience for questions is gone. Most likely because of you. He gets up and heads for the door.

“The Beskar belongs back in the hands of a Mandalorian.” The man muses, the troopers behind Mando walk slowly behind him but Mando makes no move to turn around. “It is good to restore the natural order of things after a period of such disarray, don’t you agree?” The door opens for the Mandalorian who gladly walks away from the Commissioner and his troopers.

Back outside, Mando takes his time walking back to his ship, time is up for you but his body isn’t ready to meet with another disappointment. His mind was already racing with thoughts of you in his ship and the rumors of you, but now it's competing with the images and words of the Commissioner and his troopers hiding away so close to his own covert’s hideout. Moving through the crowds of people, the ingot is burning in under his armor, almost begging to be returned to its people immediately but he treks on towards the Razor Crest. He hopes you are there, for your sake, he already has his work cut out for him with the Commissioner. Liar or not he needs the credits and he doesn't need another headache to wrestle with. He needs an easy job right now and you're the only other target for him. Greef’s words ring to him as he walks past the cantina, what would he do with you? He could just let you go after he gets the beskar off you.  _ What if that was a lie too? _ Hearing your side of things and you apparently being taught some Mando’a made sense to him at first, but what Greef knows muddies the waters. Greef hasn’t lied to him, yet. So his word is good in Mando’s book. 

But your track record, You’ve stolen from him and his creed. Not a great first impression. But you also saved him when you could have taken his life and armor as well if that was who you really were. He doesn't want to think you are but he's been duped before already by you. He doesn’t know who’s word to take, at least between the two of you.

Mando finally reaches the shipyard, he sees his ship shine in the afternoon sun but you are nowhere to be seen, as expected. What he didn’t expect was a small group of locals a few yards away from his ship crowding around an abandoned ship with blaster marks decorating the exterior and bodies scattered around it. Realizing it was a recent firefight he puts two and two together and moves his attention back to his ship as the people there scavenge for parts and lose credits from the conflict. Picking up the pace, Mando looks around his ship with his thermal vision activated to see if you were hiding nearby but nothing comes up. With a disappointed sigh he turns off the thermal vision and almost turns back around but he perks up the sight of a loose panel near the entrance of his ship. This never happened before when he came here to return his bounties. Checking his vambrace’s control on the ship he notices that his ship’s ground security protocols aren’t on like they should be.  _ Someone broke into my ship. _ He catches on, easily opening the hull doors, and stalks in blaster ready. 

Looking around inside the hull he finds nothing disturbed other than the missing carbonite bounties, but that's expected. Checking every nook and cranny of his ship but with no one ambushing him, he holsters his weapon. Already on edge with this new job, you disappearing before he could catch you adds more stress to his back, needing to sit down for a second he opens the door to his tiny closet he calls a bedroom but is met with a big burlap bag sitting there, along with the old shirt he gave you, washed and folded neatly with a paper on top of it. Picking up and unfolding the paper, its jagged side tells him it was ripped from a notebook, making Mando more curious to see what was written:

_ Sorry for breaking in but I had things off world to deal with and I’m not going to wait around forever for you. ( Also you really need to update this ship’s security, anyone with half a brain can get past it. ) So here you go, all his armor as promised! _

_ I’m sure you have a lot of questions, especially if you talked with anyone in town, but know that I always pay my debts. One way or another. _

_ Good hunting, Mando! _

He stares at your name written at the end, your rushed handwriting and poorly made happy face would have made his heart soften if he didn’t have the bounty on you. You actually pulling through with your end of the deal was a surprise to him, maybe he’ll go easy on you when he sees you again. He should be more mad that you got away but the fob resting on his belt allows you only a small headstart. He’ll at least give you that.

He refolds your paper and gently places it on top of his shirt. He unties the bag to inspect what you left behind coming face to face with the same ‘T’ visor as his but painted in orange, with red and blue markings. A paralyzing chill runs down his spine, looking at his possible future; nothing left but beskar, the man under the armor being another forgettable death in this galaxy. His legacy to be used as a bargaining chip and trophy among thieves and criminals. With a heavy heart he lifts the helmet at eye level, he wasn't sure who he was feeling sad for, the nameless Mando or himself. He forces himself to continue with his inspection; two beskar pauldrons, one with the familiar Rancor, perfectly polished and repainted now, sit at the bottom along with busted sheets of metal that look nothing like armor and possibly found in some alley way dump. He shoves the scraps around, thinking there could be more underneath.  _ That lying thief took the rest.  _ He ells himself, assuming this Mando had a full set like you implied. The flimsy metal in his hand creaks as it curls into his palm as he unknowingly tests its durability by crushing it out of anger.

_ So, Greef was right about her.  _ If the Guild doesn’t kill you, he will.

He lets out a sigh, he was too easy on you, of course you would try this with him. He tosses the scraps and armor back in the bag, taking it and the note with him as he makes his way back into town. The clunking and scraping sounds of cheap metal hitting Beskar coming from the bag while he passes through the market sounds like its ringing the bells for everyone to know how stupid he was for letting you run free. Everyone already averted their eyes when a Mandalorian passed by but seeing this one visibly seething, the locals all steered clear of him as he passed by. Reaching the edge of the bustling marketplace, he looks around to make sure no one is watching, he pushes the curtain out of his way and finds the stairway leading downwards.

As usual, he is met with another Mandalorian at the entrance to the covert, more Mandos emerge from the shadows as he passes; they notice the bag in his hand hearing the metal inside, some give him nods in understanding, but he pays them no attention. The foundlings run past him as reaches the Armorer, the giant Mythosaur skull resting above the forge as she works, the sight puts his unsteady heart at ease. Removing his pulse rifle he places it on the wall on his left, the sound of a hammer meeting metal echoing through the room, he puts the bag next to his seat waiting for his leader to speak to him. She eventually puts down the finished metal and tools at her work bench, walking over she stops just in front of him, he nods at her and she returns the gesture out of respect. Now seated together, Mando presents the Calamari Flan, the ingot of beskar, and gently places the helmet of the fallen Mandalorian before the leader. 

“ Tell me how you found this one.” She says, looking over at the helmet.

“An outsider, she claims to have made a Mandalorian pact with them to return the armor. But she backed out on her promise.” He hands over the note to her, she gently unfolds the paper.

“Was their signet ever revealed?” She says, still reading over the note. Reaching into the bag, Mando pulls out the pauldron with the rancor skull, placing it on the table. The armorer trades the note for the pauldron, in her hands she inspects it closer before speaking,

“Ah, Clan Rancor, I know of this one.” She hums, gently tracing the skull of the Rancor. She takes the bag and inspects the rest of the contents, reaching the same conclusion as him as she holds up the fake amour to the light.

“Who were they?” Mando patiently asks when their visors meet again.

“ Tress Cratt, was what he named himself. After revealing his signet, he abandoned the Tribe, promises of credits and glory were whispered into his ears. He returned years ago, only to leave once again.” she informs Mando.

“Why did he leave?”

“Who was this outsider?” The Armorer ignores his question. He notices the dodge but gives her your name,

“She claimed to be his partner, but I’ve heard that she used to tell a different story to others, she was using his armor to get status with the guild. I don’t know who is telling the truth.” Rising with the pauldron in hand the Armorer takes it over to her work bench. With a device in her hand, she places it around the signet, sparks fly past her but Mando can’t see what she’s doing.

“This outsider stole from the Tribe but your judgment is clouded, why is that?” She says over her shoulder.

“She saved my life on Horuz, and knew Mando’a, and she...mourned over this Mandalorian’s death. But she cheated me out of the deal, leaving nothing but scraps.” The two stay quiet as the words hang in the air with the sparks from the armorer. The image of you crying again invades his mind. Why did he take your word so easily?

“Where is she now?” The Armorer breaks the silence, she stops her work on the pauldron grabbing another tool, pulling the signet clean off the armor, and placing it on the table, he stares back at the Rancor.

“Gone, a bounty was put on her, she was smart to move quickly.” The Armorer returns to sit with Mando, looking at the beskar ingot.

“ You will find this girl and the armor, bring her here to face judgment and we will discover if she is truly the Cabur of our fallen brother.” 

“Do you believe she’s telling the truth? What if the rumors are true, how could we know?” He inquires at the sudden title given to you, just wanting a straight answer from his leader.

“I do not know. But what I do know is this armor was under the protection of an outsider. Until the rest is returned we will honor their pact with what we have.” Mando takes this as the end of this topic, accepting his new mission with another nod. Satisfied, her hand moves towards the ingot sitting on the small table, smoothing it over with her thumb just as he did.

“This was gathered in the Great Purge. It is good it is back with the Tribe.” She nods to him.

“Yes.” He agrees, the hands resting on his knees relaxing as he directs his attention to her. Not thinking of this Tress abandoning the Tribe, or what your involvement with the traitor could’ve been.  _ Maybe you two  _ **_did_ ** _ know each other, with the both of you being traitors. _ He exhales from his nose at his silent remark.

“A pauldron would be in order. Has your signet been revealed?” The Armorer brings him back to the present.

“Not yet.” He replies, eyes drifting over to the signet resting on the table, he forces his eyes to shift back the Armorer.

“Soon.” she chirps. Getting up once again, the Armorer walks over to her cabinet of tools grabbing what she needs to create the pauldron. Mando becomes mesmerized at the armorer’s work, the both of them watch the symbol of the empire melt away and run down the set path, dripping into the mold.

“This is extremely generous.” She hums about both findings while looking over the holo of a pauldron, “The excess from this will sponsor many Foundlings.”

“That's good. I was once a Foundling.” Mando looks down at the bag of armor still beside him.  _ At least some good will come from his loss. _

“I know.” She responds, pushing the button to order the machine to shape the metal. The thunking and clanking coming from both machine and Armorer sends Mando back into his past, the one he expected would show up.

_ Blasters firing in every direction, people trying to escape from the chaos but only to fall onto their front lawns, the invasion becomes so overwhelming the blue sky is being blocked by the dark gray clouds of smoke and ash. Memories of his parents hiding him away plays on as the armorer works on her craft. He remembers the face he had as a child watching his family be taken away from him, the same face he has seen in the mirror almost every night, and even in you when he had his hand around your neck. She was afraid. Like I was.  _

The guilt over these events eventually wash over him as the Armorer comes to him with his new pauldron setting it in place for him. The nakedness he felt without his armor on his shoulder is now gone, he looks at the new addition feeling whole once again.

\---

Looking through the scope of the blaster, you trail the wrong Nikto walking into a small door at the encampment surrounded by more of their kind, who are just lazing around the complex of Arvala-7. You adjust in your position on the cliff with a huff, the Beskar chestplate that you're wearing isn't the most comfortable thing to lay on. But you push through the discomfort of metal digging into your bones and organs, it works as some kind of punishment, almost like it knows it's not supposed to be worn by you. Like it knew you failed again to fulfill your promise. Huffing at the thought, you focus back to the encampment looking around its perimeter for the tenth time, hoping for something new to come up, or your old contact to finally show his face. The doors to the main building begin to slide open, two mercenaries walk out chatting amongst themselves, one being a human and the other being a Nikto. But this one being the one you've been waiting for. Heart pumping at the sight of the alien, his name being something you never bothered to remember after six years of knowing the guy,  _ Manny? Danny? Ron? Whatever he's dead. _ You adjust your grip on the blaster rifle, looking away from the scope to make sure the safety is still off. 

_ “Red means dead, y’ got it?”  _ **His** voice rang in your mind.

“Got it.” You mumble to yourself, moving the scope back to the Nikto walking along to the front of the encampment. The scope’s grainy filter highlights the alien in red surrounding him and his friend around a once yellow terrain to a greyed background, the red figure you care about stops in his tracks as the other leaves him; the Nikto gestures to his back pocket only to walk forward a few steps to block your aim with a pole in the way. Your finger takes this chance to slide itself to the trigger waiting for the rest of you to get onboard. A lump in your throat forms and the boiling armor hugging your torso blocks the air from entering your lungs as you wait for him to move just a little bit further forward. With your skills with this rifle, you're not going to risk taking the shot only to alert the whole camp to your return. So you wait. 

You can’t see his head clearly but you can see him with his palm stretched out holding a holocommunicator, but the hologram projection is difficult to distinguish from the scope’s current setting. Keeping your eye on the target you move your trigger finger to the scopes lens to switch out the filter with a flick, taking the time to get back in position, you close your eye to adjust to the sudden flush of brightness. A few blinks and a steady breath you open your eyes again to wait for their move, the now orange alien isn't really doing the talking but listening. The weight of the Beskar and the anticipation of this damn Nikto is starting to hurt your back, your breath unsteady at both but finally he moves two steps away from your obstacle giving you a clear view of him. Silently thanking the maker, you take in as much air as you can as you aim your shot directly to the back of the alien’s head. Before your finger can pull the trigger, you look over to the hologram only for the sight to stop your heart completely.

Saying that this kind of shady business was something you could never see  **_her_ ** be a part of was a lie. No, this was a familiar sight for you. Hell, you used to set up the meetings with this specific mercenary for her! The only shocker here is that she’s actually  _ alive.  _

The small hologram was of a Nautolan female, Kilra Iangus. Her usual flashy business blouses she prided in wearing were traded in for more dark robes to conceal her body, but her long tendrils are pushed back to show off her scarred and now aged face and those empty dark eyes. You've stopped breathing all together, something you wished upon her for so long and almost had it granted 3 years ago. You feel yourself starting to panic, heart racing, your hands unsteady, lungs clawing through the armor begging for air. Whatever plan you had for your target and his friends is forgotten now, you need to think of something better than that.  _ If she knows about them, then she definitely knows about me. _

You know you’re already fucked; with that bounty on your own head, screwing over a Mandalorian and now the dead coming back to haunt you. You're so, so fucked. You pull your finger away from the trigger, quickly flopping yourself on to your back the best you can with the added weight and stare off into the sky as your lungs take in as much air as possible. Small tears rush down the side of your face at the overwhelming revelation. _ No wonder they let you in so easily, she must have been running this show from the start, like she always does. _

Staring off into the bright blue sky, you lose yourself to the racing thoughts as your heart tries to slow down; you huff and puff out air while you think of how you should have taken up Zash’s offer to drop you off elsewhere when he got the coordinates to this planet. How you should have just ran away with the little guy while he rested in your arms before you ran out of credits for these backstabbers. 

_ You could still run away now. _ The thought intrudes, you almost consider it as an option but you know you can't do that to him. _ Already broke one promise today, we’re not doing that again here.  _ You tell yourself. But you know a part of you isn’t convinced to do the heroic thing just yet. Closing both eyes for a moment, picturing the little guy’s face when you first saw him. His massive eyes staring right back at you as you hold him in your arms for the first time. _ “Holy shit, he’s adorable!” _ was the first thing that popped into your head, but the way his eyes lit up and he cooed at you made you believe he heard you, somehow. You can still feel his three little claws clutching onto your finger as he buried himself closer to you when the mercenaries outside got too rowdy for either of you.  _ “It's alright buddy, those meanies won’t bother you as long as I'm here.” _ You would tell him that night, holding his sleeping body close as you get ready to leave in the morning to find more credits. That was three days ago and being apart for that time was too long for you to handle. You have no credits, but you know you're getting him back. One way or another.

“Alright, new plan.” You tell yourself as you pull yourself up from the ground and start walking away from the encampment. A sigh of exhaustion leaves you as the weight of the beskar plate holds you down, but the pressure is oddly comforting to you as you make your way back to Kuiil who’s been patiently waiting for you a ways back like you asked. Looking up at the sky once again you're thankful for its empty space, not a single cloud, creature or starship is seen on the pale blue canvas. Night time is also a sight to see; all the stars of the galaxy exposed for anyone to bask in its beauty. It took you weeks with just you and the little guy sitting outside the encampment; watching the stars shine above your temporary home for you to understand this need for peace in an ever changing galaxy. 

_ Tress would have hated it here. _ Before that thought can get anymore attention from you, distant growling out in the field brings your head back to the surface. Down the hill you can see the Ugnaught named Kuiil trying to herd the ugly creatures in with him but to no avail, the two run off towards the west. Clutching your heavy rifle by the barrel with one hand, you wave it in the air to catch his attention. He waves back and turns his Blurrg towards you as you trudge your way down the small hill, meeting him in the center. He pulls at the reins to stop, you give the creature a pat on the head as you greet each other with a nod, his relaxed presence being something you need as you catch your breath.

“ You have returned alone.” Kuiil points out.

“Yeah, I know! You were right, it was a dumb idea. But I need some time to think of a better plan. And a shower I’m starting to smell like this fella.” You throw your hand away from the Blurrg who growls at your comment, stepping aside, you look up at the small alien sitting in his saddle. He gives you a hum and a nod in acknowledgement but his head turns back to the ones that ran off. He doesn’t need to know what you’re really thinking of doing to notice you're stalling the inevitable.

“I will take you back. I have work at the farm for you to earn some credits.” He pats at the seat behind him, for you to join him.

“Thank you, but don’t you need to get those guys first? ” You ask as you climb onto the saddle with him, grunting as the weight of the armor is lifted and then thrown back on you when you finally settle in. Looking up at the sun with a hand to shield your eyes, you know the sun will come down soon and those Blurrg love to hide from Kuiil.

“ You would only scare them off with your scent.” He jests in his never changing tone, earning a soft slap on the shoulder from you.

“Hey! I could wrangle them up too! Let me help!”

“I have spoken.” He says as he leads the Blurrg back towards his home, you give a light chuckle while you hold onto the little man, looking up at the sky once more. Trying to pretend that this has always been your life for just two minutes, but your mind is screaming at you  _ What the hell am I going to do? _

\---

“You are a bounty hunter.” The Ugnaught says to the Mandalorian sitting on the ground with the two unconscious Blurrg he just saved from being mauled by.

“Yes.” Mando responds trying to recover from the fight he had with the creatures, he's grateful that the small man was there to help but this moment just reminded him of you saving him which reminds him of your lies and reminds him to be mad at you. If he wasn’t mad after getting his ass handed to him by a wild animal, he is now.

“I will help you.” Kuiil cuts into Mando’s moment, he says nothing to protest the man’s offer, some helpful people being what he needs, and gets up with Kuiil as he guides his Blurrg to turn around. He gives in to the kind man’s request to help him tie the knocked out Blurrg to his saddle as they make their way back to his farm. He walks to the side of the Blurrg, away from its eyesight as the Ugnaught makes small talk with Mando. Refusing to give his name to Kuiil like he requests, the two walk in silence until the windmill from his farm broke from the horizon line. The quick chirps of a device break the quiet, reaching for the source of the sound, Mando stops in his tracks as your fob is the one resting in his palm.  _ She’s here. _

“She is your quarry?” Kuiil asks as he leaves the Blurrg in the pen he made for them. He clarifies who he meant by repeating the question with your name. Mando nods his head while he gets over the shock of the luck he has today. Kuiil knew very little of your history but he knew you were running from something when you returned to the farm.

“One of them, yes. Is that going to be a problem?” He admits, putting his hands on his hips, close to his holster.

“ I will not stop a Mandalorian from claiming their prize.” He walks off before they can discuss more, the creaking of a door is heard and there Mando sees you stand while the fob goes off, indicating that the bounty is right in front of him. That fresh bruise on your forehead wasn’t there last time he saw you; along with that orange chestplate, leg armor and blaster rifle pointed right at him wasn’t either. _ Wait a- _

Before he could catch on to what was happening, a blaster bolt intended for his head smacks him in his new armor throwing him off balance. Kuiil makes himself scarce from this fight from the time being as he watches you from afar try to reload your rifle but fail. Your panicked state makes it near impossible to remember how to reload the damn thing. He shakes his head at your fumbling and heads inside.

“Shit!” Mando hears you yell, throwing the rifle to the ground, he recovers quickly and fires back at you while your back is turned, hoping that armor surrounding you back and chest is real beskar. He watches you flop to the ground at the impact.

“Ugh! Damn it, that hurt!!” You grunt out as you lift your head away from the dirt, spitting out the sand and pebbles that went into your mouth, that bruise just got bigger along with your nose feeling like it broke once again, flipping over right now seems impossible. That blaster fire might as well have punched out your lungs from your ribcage with the way you're feeling. But the sound of Mando’s footsteps reaching your position springs you to act quickly.

Not wanting to be thrown in carbonite like the Mythrol, or face the consequences of your actions being personified into one pissed off bounty hunter, you grab a nearby rock and try to throw it at his head, ignoring the throbbing pain of rolling onto your back so quickly. This shot actually hit its mark, you hear the _ clunk  _ as the rock hits beskar along with a exclaim from him; but this only angers him more. He marches over to you and picks you up from the ground by the chest plate. Your hand jump out and hold onto the end of his vambrace for support, his one arm is the only thing keeping you from falling on the ground. With his helmet so close to your face and the small peak of humanity under his armor tensing up over the intrusion of your hands digging into his sleeve, it makes that queasy feeling return for him and you. Although your feeling is more nausea-like than butterflies at the moment.

“You done?” He watches your wide eyes shift around his helmet as he feels your chest rise and fall under the beskar, his grip on it from the inside almost falters when he feels your chest brush against his fingers but with a shaky nod from you he makes you stand on your own as he pulls out the binders. “Good.” He says looking down and grabbing your hands to cover up his racing heart, as he hears you try to slow your breathing. 

“How’d you find me so quick?!” You huff once you have the energy to speak, while letting him grab each of your wrists and lock the binders in, you give out a hiss when he sets them tighter than he should. You know it's a death sentence surrendering so quick to a bounty hunter but what else can you do? You know this means you're quitting on the plan to save the little guy.  _ Like we’d make it far out on our own.  _ Your voice rings in your head. If you ever make it out of here alive you owe that Mythrol a huge apology.

“I wasn’t looking for you yet.” He tells you, it shakes you out of your self pity but he shoves you forward before you can ask him what he meant. With a grip on your arm like last time but now even tighter, the two of you pass Kuiil’s small house and head out back toward his ship. He's in much luck with both bounties being on the same planet, but before he goes off to celebrate by getting the second one he needs to deal with you.

“It will be dark soon. There are more dangerous creatures than the Blurrg out there.” Kuiil emerges from his front door, the two of you stop and Mando leads you to the Ugnaught, you try to plead for Kuiil to do something as you approach but he hushes you with a hand up.

“When I’m done with this one, I’ll come back in the morning.” Mando says tugging at your bond wrists to keep you close, in response you kick up some dirt to his shin but before he can get you back Kuiil continues,

“ She has a debt to pay me, let her work while we discuss the one you seek.”

Before Mando can argue with him, Kuiil says his usual line and walks back inside. He tries to pull you along but you surprisingly don't follow along so easily, he turns to you only to be met with those damn eyes again staring right at him but the way you're looking at him now, he hates it.

“Greef sent you to that guy too didn’t he?!” He says nothing in response, only shoving you into the small man’s door, the sudden temperature switch from hot to cold only affecting you. “How could you work with those guys after what they did to your kind?!” You exclaim as Kuiil quietly sets the tiny table for his additional guest.

That same esteemed guest grabs onto your shoulder and pushes you down to the tiny stool “Sit and be quiet.” He points at you when you open your mouth again, you stare him down but say nothing, satisfied that you listened; he settles into his seat with his new pauldron right in your face. The blaster marks from your rifle being its first stain besides the mud scuffle with the Blurrg. Staring into your blurred reflection off the slick armor, your mind goes to Tress and his very own pauldron you forced yourself to part with. Seeing how the beskar was molded into a similar style as the one you knew, the missing signet and paint being the only difference, an accusation threatens to make its way past your lips.

As he begins the talk he had with you a month ago with Mando, Kuiil hands over a cup of tea to you, giving you time to brew in your thoughts as you loudly sip the drink. You didn’t  _ mean _ to be loud but a small twitch from Mando’s helmet at the sound only encourages you to do it again.  _ If this is my last night in the galaxy, I might as well push a few buttons. _ You think as they discuss the other bounty, a tiny smirk forms on your face when you get another subtle reaction from the Mando. His hands resting on his thighs curl into fists at the sound of you sipping obnoxiously again, this time on purpose, and finishing it off with a click of your tongue and an  _ “ah” _ leaving you lips. As if the grounded leaves, floating in the warm citrusy and sweet liquid was like drinking water for the first time after hours in the sun. You actually were in the sun for hours but you're trying to sell it here. A little moment like this almost distracts you from thinking of the actual severity of your situation.

“ _ We _ can show you to the encampment.” You look at Kuiil for his choice of words, the fun being over for you now, he stares back at you telling you to go along with a nod thinking you’re both on the same page. Mando moves his helmet slightly to the left of him to show that he's looking at you. He already was watching your little act but he didn’t need you to know that.

“She’s going back to the ship first thing in the morning.” He gruffly argues to Kuiil, who's taking his time pouring more of the tea he made into the small pitcher.

“Her knowledge of the encampment will help you with capturing your bounty.” He offers over his shoulder, you plant the cup onto the table with a hard  _ thunk, _ trying to be careful not to break what isn’t yours but you can't help the sudden reaction.

“I’m not helping him!” You spit out in disgust at the idea, looking to Kuiil to not say anymore, Mando faces you with his whole body now, _ Thief, Liar. _ Are the first things that pop into his head as he tries to bury the sudden stab he felt in him at your rejection, you wanted to help him capture a bounty before, what’s so different about this one? He thought you would jump at the chance to make things right with him like you did before. He knows it's childish of him to think you’d want to help the bounty hunter holding you captive but a tiny part of him was holding out hope the two of you could work something out. But that look of disgust you throw his way is so different from you offering to heal him. It burns him, now he can’t stop the bigger, louder part of him that’s still mad at you for all the things he learned about you, to come to the surface.

“You still owe me a bounty after Horuz,” He cuts you off from saying more, your eyes meet his helmet but the fact that you're purposely not meeting his eyes like you did before admits your guilt for him. “ You also still owe me after stealing that armor, so you are going to tell me everything you know now and I'll consider not throwing you in carbonite, thief.” 

“Over my dead body.” You lean in with your bound wrists on the tiny table next to your cup.

“That can be arranged.” He follows your lead, leaning in, and seeing your fingers snake around the cup.

“Enough,” Kuiil cuts the both of you off before you could splash his face like you wanted to. The two of you break it up and look at the elder man who has his sights on you, “You have failed to bring peace here on your own. If helping him will restore peace then you will tell him everything to repay your debt to me.” Kuiil scolds you from his stove, feeling like a child being yelled at you refuse to look at him. Are you mad at yourself or him, the burning fire in your cheeks and stomach give you no clear answer. You know you need to get the little guy out of there before she gets to him. B _ ut, not like this. Not with him here. _

Kuiil leaves you to sulk and looks to Mando as he brings his pitcher to the table, “I can show you to the encampment.”

“Kuiil you can't be serious! You're helping him?  _ The Empire?!”  _ You terribly bargain, this was something you didn’t want him involved in. You went to great lengths to keep him safe already from scorned mercs that tried to get him back for sending them into the encampment.

“I have spoken.” Is all he says to you pointing over your shoulder, signaling for you to get back to your work. His face never shows much expression for you, but his eyes now narrowed makes you listen to him. 

Mando stays quiet for a moment while you move to a corner in the small house and flop onto the floor covered in broken and rusty gadgets as you bury yourself in the work the best you can with cuffed hands. That small part of him returns wanting to release you from the binders to make your job easier but your hunched over position and tense shoulders facing him tell him to leave you to cool off.

“What’s your cut?” He brings the conversation back, as Kuiil turns off the stove and turns to him.

“Half.” He says reaching his side of the table with his pitcher in hand. He’s returned to his calm and collected state but the sound of you tossing one scrap metal on top of another with little care tells Mando it isn’t over for you. 

“Half the bounty to guide? Seems steep.” He ignores your presence as he tries to haggle the price.

“No,” Kuiil grunts out as he sits and rests the pitcher on the table, “half the Blurrg you helped capture.”

“The Blurrg? You can keep them both.” This really is his lucky day, one out of two bounties already caught and now he can keep both rewards.

“No. You will need one, to ride. The way is impossible to pass without a Blurrg mount.”

“I don't know how to ride Blurrg.” He admits and as he expected a cackle from the corner reminds the table of your existence. You turn around to look at him with a face screaming, ‘really?’. He tilts his head at you to see if you would do more but you just turn back around laughing to yourself at the thought of the big, scary bounty hunter trying to ride a Blurrg as you shuffle through the clutter around you.

“I have spoken.” Kuiil ends the conversation there, informing Mando of the plan for tomorrow.

\---

Kuiil tells you to take Mando to your sleeping quarters after a decent meal together. You, now a little buzzed from dinner comply much to both of the men’s shock.

_ Earlier that night, Mando watched the two of you eat in tense silence for some time until leaving with a sigh to let you two make amends; while he tried to make his own apology with the Blurrg. That didn’t go well, some explicit growls and Mando'a were exchanged. Someone almost lost a limb. So he thought it would be best to dine alone for the night. When he came back to the sound of pleasant chatter and cups clinking filled with some expensive alcohol you kept with you for special occasions, he knew the hatchet was buried between the two of you. He couldn’t help feeling like an intruder when the good times quieted down once he sat at the table, but the binders around your wrists and watching you struggle to eat the home cooked meal Kuiil worked hard on reminded him that he was in fact, an intruder. _

He thanks Kuiil for the meal and the place to sleep, hoping that if he makes quick work tomorrow he can get out the old man’s hair for good. Kuiil offered his own room for him but Mando politely insisted on not letting you out of his sight. He follows your lead to the small shed Kuiil allowed you to use as a bedroom, but you only slow down and skid your feet across the dirt as the sun falls through the windmill, looking up at it he sees that glossed over look in your eyes again. This time he watches your face shine in the purple lighting with tears resting on the rim of your eyelids. You barely finished your first drink during dinner but it was enough to let your walls down and relax you. But nothing about this night was relaxing, too many thoughts scramble for your attention; all you can do is put one foot in front of the other back to your shed, to sleep this nightmare away. 

The boogeyman behind you walks into the shed with you, surveying the room as he places his rifle against the wall. _ That’s a bed?  _ He thinks looking at the tattered tarp on the floor, a thin bed sheet thrown on top, and a bag full of clothes placed like a pillow. A small lamp of the floor by your bed and one on the workbench hiding in the corner are the only sources of light. Data pads and various parts were scattered around the room and table but they look to be stripped of everything but the frame. Seeing the mess that is your little shed, he can't help the tiny chuckle, too low for you to hear, escaping him at the thought of shit sleeping arrangements might be the one thing the two of you have in common. Your bounded hands slapping his chest plate brings him back to his sour mood.  _ You’re his bounty. Not a friend. And now you have to share a room together. _

“Unlike you, I brought more than one outfit. So, I need these off to change.” You wiggle your cuffed hands in his face to get him to unlock them. He grabs your wrists roughly and unlocks the binders, leaving you to inspect the other side of the room. You lightly rub away the pain of being locked up for hours on your wrists and move them to the chest plate resting on you. The clasps digging into your ribcage that connect the front and back side together is the easiest part; lifting your right arm up and grabbing the edge of the clasp with the other you struggle to pull the tiny handle out of its position because of your loose hands but after a third try, it flips over. The right side of your body feels significantly lighter now, you exhale at the relief, but switching to the other side becomes more difficult. The busted clasp has always been a stronger opponent with you, and with the right side free from the pressure, the bruising from Mando’s shot begins to make itself known on your back making this whole time worse for you.

“Let me help.” You hear Mando right behind you, you tense up when you feel one of his hands on your right shoulder. He waits for your nod before he moves his hand for the clasp, pushing it open with ease, you give another relieved exhale at the release but go quiet as he continues to help with loosening the ties digging into your shoulders. 

“ You get my note ok?” You couldn’t handle the quiet with him so close. Feeling his hands so close to your neck makes you shiver. 

“Yes.” he says, as he waits for you to move. The two of you get quiet when he begins to lift the armored vest over your head, you duck under and turn to face him as he stands there with the chestplate resting easy in his hands.

You give him a nod and move to the makeshift bed digging through your ‘pillow’ for a tank top and some pajama pants. Turning around you see that he’s still watching you, you tilt your head towards him to get the hint.

“You mind not being a creep this time?” You remind him of that incident in his ship, he can’t help the heat from reaching his cheeks at the memory of the embarrassing moment. He wants to defend himself, tell you that his eyes were actually closed but he doubts you would believe he's telling the truth. All you saw that time was Mando staring you down, like a creep. So when you twirl your finger for him to turn around, he gladly does just that. On his side of the room he notices a makeshift workbench in his line of sight. With a thunk from the armor meeting the table, he gives you the privacy to change while he hangs out here. 

“Like Kuiil said, getting that bounty isn’t going to be an easy task, so you can understand why I needed the armor, right?” You tell him while you pull the sweaty shirt over your head, not seeing that Mando isn't paying attention to you.

Mando busies himself by looking at the contents of the table, more datapads and junk, but an open journal with the same paper from the note rests on a page written in what he can see as Mando ’a, draws his attention.  _ Not hers. _ Some parts of the pages have sketches of plants, animals, and people he has never seen from places he’s never heard of. The handwriting is sloppy and almost illegible but he can read a few names of planets and people. The Tribe being mentioned along with a drawing of you at bottom of the next page makes his heart sink at the image. One word was titled underneath the drawing of you with a blue male and a green female alien by posing with you;  _ “Aliit. _ ” Family, he knew that's what it meant. 

_ Maybe you were telling the truth after all. _ The hope in him rattled in his helmet. This may have answered the one question he had but now he has more coming to mind.

The book slams shut in his face before he can investigate more, your hand rests on top of the journal before you pull it away to your chest and march to your bed. Shutting off the light there, Mando does the same at the table, deciding to leave the bed to you he rests against the wall next to the bed and you by his side, crossing his arms over his chest the two of you try to sleep.

Moments pass, the sound of his own relaxed breathing from within his helmet is competing with the sounds of you constantly tossing and turning in your space, neither of you can sleep. He hears one more flop and groan from you before complete silence reaches his ears.

“ There’s too many for you to handle alone at the encampment. We can cut a deal-”

“No.” He cuts you off, not wanting another problem to deal with tomorrow. 

“But I can help!” You plead.

“I'm not having a repeat of Horuz. Go to sleep, thief.” He couldn’t help himself dig at you, he hears you sharply inhale and the sounds of you turning again. Thinking you turned away from him, he rolls his shoulders as he deeply inhales, trying to welcome the idea of getting at least a few hours of sleep, he shuts his eyes.

“He told you about that, huh?” Your drowsy voice makes him jolt awake, he turns his visor, that thankfully lets him see significantly better in the dark. He sees you've turned over on your side to look at him, your eyes finding his helmet even in the dark making him adjust in his spot at the attention.

“Among other things” He draws out, thinking of the rumors still being true makes him uneasy with how quick he was to throw them out the door for you at the first sign of a contradiction. He stays silent hoping you’d give him more information. He doesn’t have to wait that long; you rub your eyes and get up to face him. The small sheet you were using as a blanket falling off your shoulders and resting on your lap makes that queasy feeling return to him at the intimate sight of your bare arms and more skin than he should see on you being exposed to just him, again.

“What I told Greef about how I got the armor isn't true, I promised my partner that I would survive, so I did just that the best way I could.  _ I lied. _ It killed me to say those things about him but I had to, I had to alright?!.” You stared him down for a few seconds, tears forming in your eyes once again, you laugh to yourself at how stupid you are for trying to reason with Mando.  _ Like it would change anything.  _ You lay back down on your back when he gives you no response. Looking up at the ceiling you force your eyes shut and settle back into sleep.

“Was this bounty worth going back on your word.” This time you're the one started awake, he wasn't sure what to think of you anymore but he knew no matter what he'd still have to turn you in. That small part of him again returns hoping when it's all said and done, he can find you again and hear the full story. But he knows he’s being naïve. 

“ You wouldn’t understand.” He hears you sigh, he watches you snuggle into the pillow with your eyes closed.

“Try me." Sleep finally takes hold of both of you but he doesn't want this to end just yet.

“Mmm, I'll tell you whatever you want, when you can ride the Blurrg." You try to tease but the pull to sleep makes you slow your words down, almost slurring the sentence out. 

"You better hold up your end of the deal this time." He challenges leaning his head back against the wall, earning him a taste of a genuine giggle from you at his quick acceptance of the deal, “Do you know how to ride a Blurrg? He defensively says, feeling like he's missing something but you're cute  _ Not cute just tipsy. _ behavior distracts him from spotting it.

“I've been here a month and I can barely pet them." You can’t help the laugh that escapes you, this time louder and contagious for him, you can almost hear a quiet huff coming from the corner as you finally settle down. The two of you finally say nothing but in both your minds you say goodnight to each other.

\---

“Perhaps if you removed your helmet. ” Kuiil says beside you as the two of you watch the Mandalorian fall off the Blurrg for the seventh time this morning. The two of you with your own cups of caff have been laughing at each instance, your laughter louder than his but he still gives in to your antics. Feeling emboldened to be more carefree with the orange armor back on you; Mando was kind enough to help you put the armor back on this morning, saying how he needs to turn you in alive for the full fee.  _ How charming.  _

“Perhaps he remembers I tried to roast him!” Mando yells back as he leans back on the ground with his hands.

“This is a female. The males are all eaten during mating.” He informs Mando as the Blurrg circles around the pen.

“Maybe we should wait till after mating season, get him an easy male to ride. How long is that from now? A couple months?” You swish around your cup at the question, like it was an option for him but the smile at your face spurs him to finally react to you.

“That's enough out of you.” He points at you, you stick your tongue at him like a child, he shakes his head knowing he won’t be heard. He turns his attention to the other difficult female that's turned back to face him in the pen with a growl. Taking this as his chance to try again he quickly climbs back on top of the Blurrg, actually being able to sit down on the creature this time. You and Kuiil look at each other, he crosses his arms around his chest and you sip your drink, the both of you are silently impressed that he might actually pull this off on his first day. However the Blurrg wins this round once again, flipping the man to the ground onto his back, the creature does not give him a chance to try again, coming after him forcing Mando to get up with a groan and leave her side.

“I don't have time for this, do you have a land speeder or speeder bike that I could hire?” He marches over to the Ugnaught who’s rubbing his forehead at Mando’s failed attempts.

“You are a Mandalorian!” Kuiil exclaims in frustration, the two of you look at the elder man as he continues, “Your ancestors rode the great Mythosaur, surely you can ride this young foal.” He gestures to the Blurrg that circling her side of the pen, Mando turns away from the “foal” and looks to you for some help here.

“I'm in no rush to be anywhere, so take your time  _ Mandalorian _ .” You mockingly call his title, gesturing back to the Blurrg as well earning a loud sigh from him. Unclenching his fists, he turns back around to the Blurrg after Kuiil gives him another nod in encouragement. The creature giving off the same smug attitude as you, growls again as the Mandalorian approaches her. Becoming agitated she backs up with a warning snarl. 

“Easy. easy,” Sharing the same feeling, he presents his hands to the female, inching closer to the creature but she doesn’t like it, letting out a small howl as he gets too close. “Now, alright settle down.” He gruffly says trying to force his hand on top of the creature’s head prematurely she snaps at him, forcing him to jump to the side with his hands up.

Thinking he has lost again, you let out a small chuckle, looking to Kuiil to join in but the man ignores you to watch the creature allow Mando to not only pet her but to hop onto her back. The laughter dies in your throat as you watch Mando lead the Blurrg around the pen in a victory lap. You put your cup onto the ground, putting your hands on your hips as you watch the man in awe as he parades around that he’s beat you at something you’ve tried so hard to do on his first day. You should be mad at him for winning the information you bargained the night before at this moment, but once the Blurrg was let out and he confidently stops his creature to hold out his hand for you, you choose to forget that he’s your captor and take his warm gloved hand into your own.

\---

The ride to the bounty with you sitting in front of the Mandalorian was a bumpy one, not just because of the constant hopping the Blurrg had to do but the metal chest plates the two of you wore didn’t make the trip all that comfortable for either of you. It was a tight squeeze and him being so close behind you may have caused the warm feeling in your cheeks but it was worth the embarrassment to not get smacked in the face by his rifle as it happened when your group first rode out. With that small detour to switch, the already long journey came to an end as the afternoon sun began to lower, you lead the group to the cliffside you’ve used as your lookout post.

“That is where you'll find your quarry” Kuiil says on your left to Mando, reminding you of your purpose for being here. You hop off the Blurrg, needing to stretch your legs and to see if anything (or anyone ) has changed (or arrived) at the encampment. Before you can get far with your rifle, Mando grabs it out of your hands and tosses you his spyglass, you try to protest but he silences you with a tilt of his head to move along. Grabbing a bag of credits he hands it over to his guide only for the man to look away and reject it with a hand.

“Please you deserve this.” He pleads to Kuiil, hoping the credits could make up for taking the simple man’s time and friend from him.

”Since these ones arrived, this territory has been an endless stream of mercenaries seeking reward and bringing destruction.” Kuiil gestures to the encampment with his head, and Mando sees you ahead of them looking at the camp with his gadget seemingly unaware of their conversation.

”Then why did you guide me? Why didn’t you help her when I came for her reward?”

”They do not belong here. Those that live here come to seek peace. Having another bounty would only bring more destruction. There will be no peace until they’re gone.” Kuiil states, the agreement the two of you made last night allows him to say this with confidence. He gave you the same exact speech as the Mandalorian, looking at you off on the cliffside, he hopes that you understand his decision. 

“Then why do you help?” Mando asks, meeting the Ugnaught’s eyes behind the helmet.

”I have never met a Mandalorian. I've only read the stories.” The two look off into the valley of the planet, “If they are true, you will make quick work of it. Then there will again be peace.” Mando looks back to Kuiil at the sound of the reins being tugged; looking over his shoulders, Kuiil gives a wave and his usual line as the Blurrg heads back to the farm, leaving Mando to work.

\---

“How many are there?” You hear Mando say behind you, turning around you watch him crawl up by your side and snatch the spyglass from your hand. Lucky you already spot your old friend relaxing out front so you don’t care to react. Your anxiety for what's to come stops your usual antics to be obnoxious, with being so close to your goal, you force yourself to take things seriously now.

“There’s a few of them out front right now, but last time I was with them there was about fifteen total.” You sigh, your heart rate being to pick up at the sight of so many of them not accounted for, not a usual sight for these aliens to avoid the warm sun so the question comes to you,  _ what are they hiding from? _

“What do you mean, you were with them?” Mando brings you back to reality before you are completely lost in thought, you look at him remembering your deal to give him whatever information he needs.

“I know a guy in there from back in the day, so after I ditched the guild, I cut a deal with them for their protection. I meet their payments and I get to hide out with the quarry.” You ramble, hoping he just accepts it at that, but seeing him tense up and shift in his position tells you he isn’t done with the questions.

“That’s it? I’m surprised they didn't just take the credits from you.” He chuckles, but becomes suspicious of your connection to these apparent destructive mercenaries, who have killed everyone but you.

“We have our history together, but I earned my keep doing their laundry for them, or watched the quarry when they didn’t want to. Stuff like that.” He doesn't need to know about the mutual friend the Nikto and you share so you keep that part to yourself.

“Let's use that to our advantage then, you go back in there and let me in from the back so we can be done with this.” He concludes through his spyglass, looking at the men there but you laughing at his plan makes him look at you.

“I can't show my face there! They would blast me on sight if I show up without their credits.” You roll your eyes at him as you let out a breath because of the pressure of the chest plate against your lungs and to squash the fear rising in you. You’re not liking how things are looking down below. But maybe convincing Mando to spring the trap you suspect is set, your plan might work in your favor.

“How much are they asking?” He groans with a sigh looking back into his scope.

“Well if we strip you for parts and what I got on me that can get us almost half of what they're asking.” You shrug, needing to lighten the mood for your racing heart you look at him when he’s silent for too long. Meeting the stagnant look of his visor you already can tell he’s getting sick of your shit by now.

“Seriously?”

“Well I had a plan in the works but with you here, this new one to pay them off might work!” You defend, getting a head shake from him as he looks back to camp.

“Yeah? What was your plan?”

“Well, it-” You hold your tongue with a hmm, realizing how stupid the plan would sound to him. Catching your hesitation he looks away from the encampment, putting the spyglass down.

“You were just going to walk in there weren't you? That’s all you could think of?” He laughs to himself at the offended look you send his way.

“I was in the middle of coming up with the plan when you shot me!” You whisper, not wanting your voice to be echoed down to the encampment.

“You shot first.” He points out, hearing faint thudding from down below he gets back on his spyglass to find the source.

“You had a bounty on me, so it was self defense-” Although he’s right, you think he’s still wrong. But hearing the same noise as him ends the argument. Following where his scope is pointing you see something too small for your naked eye to identify but the “oh no.” from Mando tells you this isn’t going to end well for them. For one; they stole your plan to walk in, so they might do the hard part for you two.

“What is it?” You whine watching the figure walk into the encampment. Its footprints sound more mechanical now, but you're unfamiliar with the kind of droid.

“Bounty droid.” Mando sighs, handing you the spyglass, not needing it anymore.

“Sup paragraph 16 of the Bondsman Guild protocol waiver compels you to immediately produce said asset.” The droid’s artificial voice echoes through the valley, followed by the sounds of blaster fire ringing out only to quiet down with the sound of the main building’s door to slam shut. Looking through the glass, you watch that old friend of yours scurry away into the building, the last place you left the little guy.

“Droids,” You hear Mando sigh, he takes back his scope and gets up from his spot from the grounds with a groan, you feel your heart in your throat at the realization of what this droid is here for, your plan isn’t going to work with two bounty hunters here now. “Don’t move this time, got it?”

“ What? No way that thing is gonna ruin everything! Let me help!” You jump from your position to block Mando from going down to meet the droid. He tries to side step you but you move to stop him, seeing this sudden bravery and not so subtle fear on your face he knows you won’t quit.

“Fine,” He starts, he turns around and grabs your blaster rifle he took from you. Pocketing half the ammo it came with, without you noticing, for his safety. Satisfied with leaving you only nine shots, he holds the blaster in front of you which you gladly try to take but his grip on the rifle doesn't give. He wants to trust you now but your eagerness to have a blaster in your hands makes him pull the rifle back towards him with your body following suit, “but try anything and that droid will be the last of your worries.”

“I- yeah, I got it!” He lets go, and walks past you a few feet but turns around as he checks his weapons.

“ Watch my back once I'm down there. Make your shots count this time.” He gives you one last nod that you return and heads down the cliffside. You follow his silhouette, highlighted in the red filter, until he reaches the edge of the encampment and hides behind a wall. From this angle, you realize you have a clear shot of him. You slowly point the crosshairs just below his helmet where his neck is only protected by his layered clothing just to see if your assessment is correct. Turns out you were right. If _ you take the shot, maybe they’d trust you enough to let you back in. _

Your gut is telling you to take the shot, to be done with this one problem, but your mind debates which scenario would be worse for the child and you; facing what’s left of the Empire or Kilra and her goons? 

Mando moves out of sight before you could make a decision.

\---

“This is acceptable.” The IG unit in front of Mando says, agreeing to split the reward with him. He starts looking around the pillar and back at the doors that locked down at the droids shooting. Seeing that no one has run out blasters ready at them just yet, he takes this time to recover from the blaster fire he got for sneaking up on the trigger happy droid. Feeling like he just got hit by a speeder bike, he thinks of how that must have been how you felt getting hit by his fire.

“Great. Now let's regroup out of harm’s way and form a plan.” Mando sighs relieved, urging the droid to come to him with his hands but the damn thing is taking its time to walk over. 

“I will of course receive the reputation merits associated with the mission.” IG-11 states, rotating its upper half and walking over the body in front of him.

“Can we talk about this later?!” He already regrets working with the droid, at least you listened to him. Sort of, the back talk was a bit of an issue but he can at least look you in the eye.

“I require an answer if I am to proceed-” A blaster shot hitting IG-11 from behind starts the chaos, Mando spots the shooter up on a rooftop behind the droid now screaming “alert. alert. alert. ” a shot flies by his shoulder hitting the wall, he quickly downs the mercenary. More men come out from one side of the fortress, blasters already firing in his direction forcing him to take cover. IG-11 being out in the open takes his two blasters and fires back in both directions, more men hearing the firefight join in from all sides.

“Lets go!” Mando calls over to the droid after making an opening for the two. Making his way through, he catches you trying to help by shooting one group on the roof across the way from him, but you miss by a foot shooting directly behind them. Seeing that they were distracted by a second attempt to kill them, Mando shoots them down for you as he moves through the camp.

Too busy thinking of the fight in front of him, Mando almost misses the sound of the door behind him sliding open, only knowing of the danger when he feels a hand grab him from behind. Spinning around at the touch he goes to smack his blaster across the face of the Nikto but the alien falls to the ground when a blaster shot passes through him. Quickly looking up to the direction of the cliff side where he left you, he sees the two more fly into the crowd. Both shots miss whatever you were trying to aim at but one grazes a fellow who orders half the camp to be looking the other direction for the shooter. Mando rushes to the rundown landspeeder resting in the center for cover, the droid follows along shooting out additional fire. Pulling out the fob he lets the device guide him to the bounty, which is apparently behind the blast doors dead ahead.

\---

Providing cover all the way from up here wasn’t the easiest thing for you. You may know how to properly handle and care for the blaster rifle you inherited but landing a shot? If the target stays perfectly still, yes. Moving targets however? You’ll be lucky to be able to even graze a guy. But today you actually managed to land a shot, and save Mando in the process. With a small cheer for yourself, you feel confident to do it again, moving the scope over to the group of mercenaries on the rooftop; you don’t slow yourself down to aim and just fire. Seeing one the men that you didn’t aim for jump back in pain was another confidence booster, the crowd started looking around for the shooter and you see Mando run off with the droid. You would keep going but the blaster bolts whizzing past your head makes you duck in fear but once the shooting stops, you get back in position. 

Looking through your scope for Mando you see that the whole encampment has surrounded his position at the door. For a moment things stay still, a few mercenaries take a careless shot here and there but once the droid and Mando pop back out, a flurry of red lights fly in both directions. Mando can be seen messing with the blast door panel while the droid provides cover. You try to help as well, firing four more shots into the crowd, each fire pushes the butt of the rifle into your shoulder but with the madness down below you pay no mind to the pain. Two shots actually hit their targets, one mercenary hit in the back with the other gunman in the leg. You go to fire at a mercenary getting too close to your party but the blaster does nothing but make a click sound like it's empty. Scrambling to check your weapon, knowing this shouldn't be the case, you pull out the magazine and see that it is in fact empty. That was the last of the blaster’s ammo. Looking around in a panic you know that the fight is still going on but notice a small group towards the entrance is pulling something out of one of the buildings. Something big. Getting back down to use your rifle’s scope you see that the mercenaries ahead are urging the small group to reach the front with what you can now see is a E-Web, a heavy automatic that you don't remember being here last time you were in the encampment. If that thing fires at Mando, not only will it kill him, but it could hurt the quarry inside. You wrap the useless blaster rifle back on your shoulder and run down to the encampment without a second thought.

\---

“New plan!” Mando yells over the E-Web’s fire power, he can feel his cover starting to give out to the blasts from the weapon. Pieces of the pillar chipped away knock onto his helmet like rain patters, but the sounds of the heavy and smaller blasters being shot at the same time keeps his heart racing with his own blaster clutched in his hand. 

“Beginning self destruct countdown.” IG-11 says beside him for the fourth time today.

“No! Stop it!” He orders the droid for the fourth time. He tries to peek around the pillar but the E-Web is unrelenting, dodging someone’s shot at his head he ducks back into cover.

“Draw their fire! I'll take it out!” He tells IG-11 his plan, yelling for the droid to go as he holsters his weapon. The droid runs out from their cover only to be quickly shot down by the E-Web, it flops against the wall in defeat but the gunner is still firing at it. Getting cocky, the gunman doesn't notice the Mandalorian before it's too late. Shooting his grabbling line and successfully getting it caught onto the handle of the blaster, Mando quickly throws the rider off with a tug and shoots the alien before he can react. Throwing himself onto the hovering E-web he fires away, the power of the weapon making the hovercraft spin around with him. With the adrenaline running through him while gunning down the mercenaries left, he can't help but feel young again as he hops off the craft. Basking in his work, only the sounds of the E-Web cooling down and the droid’s self-destruct timer clicking away can be heard in the encampment. 

“Well done, I will disengage self destruct initiative” Mando turns to the droid, surprised it survived the fight and walks over to help it up.

“You know you're not so bad, for a droid.” He admits to the droid while offering his hand, he naturally looks away once it agrees with him, back on its feet, “That blaster hit looks nasty you ok?”

“Running a quick diagnostic,” IG-11 says, whirring sounds and beeps come from it before it looks back to Mando, “it has missed my central wiring harness.”

“Is that good?” Mando asks, getting a short yes as its answer he nods to himself “Well now we just need to get the door open.” He thinks out loud. Almost like the two shared the same mind; the droid and man both turn around to the E-Web.

\---

Getting down this mountain side isn’t an easy task with the extra weight of the beskar pulling you to the center of the planet, but the sound of the E-Web shooting down metal and a short firefight down below makes you jump down the small rocky hill you were tiptoeing through. Naturally flopping onto the ground, the chestplate working as the worst cushion ever, you get back on your feet with a cough and wobble into the encampment. You almost trip over the first body, it's quiet now and carefully walking around a few more bodies you get a closer look at the big weapon sitting there with the doors to the building shot out of its frame. Twirling around, you can’t help but admire the marks the E-Web left on every dusty building and the general damage it done to your old friend and her goons’ operation. One problem is gone now, and you barely had to lift a finger. You start to get why she always had hired guns by her side now. The single shot of a blaster from inside makes you quickly grab a blaster from a body, not even checking if it has ammo, and you rush inside.

“Where is he!?” You run in, the Mandalorian’s back to you. His droid partner is on the floor with a puff of smoke leaving its head. Looking past the two, you spot your Nikto friend dead on the floor as well, rushing over you immediately flip him over and dig through his pockets.

“You never said it was a kid.” You hear Mando say, checking the inside of the Nikto’s jacket you feel the circular device in a hidden pocket. 

“If I did, would it have changed things for you?” You throw over your shoulder, pulling it out you see that it's the holocommunicator you were looking for and you pocket it along with the pouch of credits you found. Hearing no answer, you get up and see Mando staring at you, the both of you tense up at the silence.

“Of course it wouldn’t.” You scoff, wanting to see your little guy you try to walk past him but he gets in your way, you look up at his visor, your eyes narrowed.

“What?!” You whine.

“You could have ran off instead of help, why didn't you?” He tilts his head at you, his genuinely curious voice and body language almost made you forget that you're mad at him, but hearing the child give a coo from his pram brought you back to reality.

“I think you can figure that one out.” You push past the man with little resistance, forcing a smile on your face at the sight of the green baby’s eyes meeting yours. “Hey buddy! I told you I'd be back, didn't I?” Mando watches the child reach for your hand like he did with him earlier, realizing that this was the answer to his question from the night before. You gave up everything; your credits, your ship and your safety, all for this child. He moves to your side and stops you from taking the child out the pram with a hand on your arm, he quickly loosens his grip on you when the child and you look at him.

“Thank you, for helping.” He gently says to you while pulling your hands away from his bounty. He can’t stop himself from taking in the closeness with someone, with a mind of its own his thumb brushes against your bare arm. You move your arm out of his hand, confused by his random gentle touch burning into your skin. The two of you are waiting for someone to react, but when you get none you go back to the child and accept the tiny claw he held out for you. 

“I guess that means we’re even then, am I free to go?” You laugh off your nerves, with Mando crowding your side and whatever just happened there. You feel the guilt in your stomach brewing as the grip on your blaster tightens. 

“No.” He says, that emotionless gruff returning to his voice, you let out a loud sigh at his answer.

Looking at the child, who is curious of the faceless newcomer, you rub his little hand before putting it down onto his blanket. Your heart starts pumping harder than ever before,  _ This is a bad idea! _ Your brain screams at you, but what else can you do?

Moving quickly, you step away from the Mandalorian, keeping the child away from this, and aim the blaster with both hands at the spot above his chest plate like you did before. He has his blaster pointed right at you as well, but you know he won’t pull the trigger, he said he needs you alive.

“ Put it down,” He says your name, it's strange to hear it leave another modulated voice but you try not to think too hard on that thought when you pull the trigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( Feedback is cherished here, I hope you like! :) )  
> *Translations ( I got from that one Mandalorian dictionary chart):  
> Cabur [KAH-boor]: guardian, protector  
> Aliit (clan) [ah-LEET]: Family


End file.
